


Drowning (Modern!AU Luffy x Nami)

by GingerAtHome



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Depression, F/M, Friendship, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Romance, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2018-09-07 18:43:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 24,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8811901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GingerAtHome/pseuds/GingerAtHome
Summary: Sometimes she just wanted to stay under the water until she stopped breathing, but somehow he's always able to bring her back up for air.





	1. Chapter 1

She felt the water surround her and for a moment she thought of just letting it swallow her whole. There were few ups, but the one she had on her mind was the one that went along the lines of no more pain after this. And that sounded good. So good that this was worth it, worth it to die right here and right now without having to worry about tomorrow.

“Nami,” the voice was muffled because of the water but she knew it was her’s, and as she opened her eyes she saw the familiar outlining of Luffy staring down at her.

She didn’t know whether to be scared of him finding her trying to die or relieved that he did find her; so she settled on angry for him just barging into the bathroom and seeing her naked. “Why are you in here?” She screamed at him, covering her chest in the process.

He gave her one of his grins and at the sight she just wanted to hit him on his head. “Sanji said dinner was ready.”

She frowned. Really this guy was so oblivious to everything except fighting and food and even fighting he kind of ignored if food was the other option. So she hit the back of his head. “Idiot, that doesn’t explain why you’re coming in here while I’m bathing.”

“Oww Nami, that hurts,” he flinched as she raised her hand to hit him again.

“Just get out of here. I’ll be out in a minute.”

He laughed as he fled the bathroom quickly, slamming the door behind him. She sighed. That boy would kill her if she didn’t kill herself first.

Slowly, she stepped out of the tub and walked towards the mirror, not really caring how cold the air was when it hit her wet skin. She looked at herself in the mirror, only seeing the things she hated so much about herself. Like the way her hair wasn’t long enough to cover what she thought was too long of a neck or how her hips seemed fat compared to the rest of her or even how her chest seemed to big. 

The thoughts of the other girls at school just earlier that day ran through her head. ‘She must be a slut with the way she dresses.’ ‘Do you see her chest? There’s no way she isn’t one.’

They hurt, but she never showed anyone. Even though Ms. Nico would often pull her aside after class to ask if she wanted to talk about it, but she never did. She wasn’t worth the time it would take to get through all her issues and insecurities.

She heard a knock at the door and turned her head towards the piece of wood separating her from her friends.

“NAMI,” Luffy of course, “Hurry up! Sanji won’t let me eat until you’re there.”

She almost smiled, but didn’t as she turned back to the mirror. She turned to see the tattoo she had and her frown deepened. This thing had so many rumors connected to it and yet she never takes the time to clear it up because what was the point.

“I’ll be out in a minute.” She finally says grabbing one of the towels from the cabinet.

She dried herself off as quickly as possible, hearing the boy on the other side of the door talking about his day and how hard classes were. Listening to him always seemed to be the easiest way to take her thoughts away from the dark ones she had deep inside her, so even when she pretends to be ignoring him she never was. She was always listening.

As she pulled her shirt over her head she heard someone else storming down the hall and knew by the sound that it was Sanji.

“Luffy, what are you doing outside the bathroom?” She cringed, thinking about what the blonde boy would do when Luffy answered.

“Nami’s getting dressed.”

She could feel the blonde already beginning to lose his temper, “And when you said you went in to get her you mean you went in the bathroom?”

“Yeah, but she was in the bath so she told me I had to leave.”

She could feel Sanji’s anger through the door as there was a loud crack and an ‘ow’ coming from the black haired boy. She frowned, she knew that Luffy could easily overpower anyone living in the house or even in the school and it always seemed to be his too friendly attitude that stopped him from hurting anyone he lived with.

As she pulled on her pants she could still hear Sanji screaming at their friend. She almost wanted to run out to stop him, but knew that Luffy wouldn’t care either way.

“I’m jealous of you,” she whispered half to herself and half to the boy who’s been sitting on the other side of the door.

She took one last look in the mirror before opening the door. Within seconds Sanji turned from angry to his usual woman loving self.

“Oh Nami you look as beautiful as ever.” She had grown so use to the comments that now it never really seemed to affect her, now it was no longer a praise.

She looked down at Luffy and saw his signature smile had already taken over his face.

She sighed, “Yes, now we can eat dinner.”

He gave a shriek of excitement as he took off down the hall, Sanji following shortly after yelling at him about eating everything before anyone sat down, again.

She walked a little slower, hoping that he had finished everything already. Sanji had a tendency to feed her way more than she needed and right now she was trying to lose weight, not gain it.

But sadly Sanji had stopped the seemingly always hungry boy before he could. She forced a smile as she sat down and began to eat the food. It was delicious, she hated it more and more with each bite she took.

“If you don’t want to eat it I’ll eat it.” She turned to see Luffy staring at her with a look she had never seen him wear before and because of that couldn’t decide what it was.

“N-no,” she said, “It’s fine.”

He nodded slowly, still staring at her for a moment longer before returning to his own plate. 

    While the three of them ate, the fourth member of their party joined them after his nap. Zoro and Sanji instantly broke into another fight, distracting them as she shoveled the rest of her food onto Luffy’s plate. Oddly enough he didn’t do what he normally did and begin to laugh or smile. He just gave her that look he was giving her earlier. As if to give him a reason to stop she smiled at him, but he didn’t seem to change his look. Nonetheless he ate it all before reaching for more.

    After the three of them, not including Sanji, did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom Nami walked back to her room; looking for peace and quiet away from her housemates.

    Just as she opened her door she heard Luffy say something from the door of his room. She turned and tilted her head as if to ask what he had just said. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” He said as if it was a question and in a way that required an answer.

    “Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

    He smiled, not like he normally did. It was more of a relieved smile than anything and that made her worry. Maybe he wasn’t as stupid as she thought he was.


	2. Chapter 2

    She woke to the sound of arguing and laughter. The arguing she knew was Sanji and Zoro arguing over who would drive and the laughter being Luffy as he probably ate his larger than normal bowl of cereal. 

    She signed, getting dressed as quickly as possible. She tried not to look into the mirror, knowing that she would hate what she saw, but when she had finished pulling her clothes on she stood in front of it to look and see if there was anything that needed to be fixed. And she thought everything needed to be fixed.

    “Nami, we’re going to be late to school if you don’t hurry up,” she sighed, it was always Luffy. Not that he actually knew that they were already late to school because of their friend’s constant arguing over absolutely nothing.

    She swung the door open to look at him. He stood with that stupid grin on his face that just made her want to hit him. “Ready?”

    He nodded before taking off towards the car. She walked through the kitchen and grabbed the keys off the counter while the other two continued their fight. Shaking her head she closed the door behind her.

    Luffy sat in the front seat of the car, jumping up and down as he did every morning before he is either told to get to the back by Sanji or to stop and make sure they’re going the right way by Zoro.

    “Okay,” she said climbing into the driver’s seat, “Lets go.”

    He stared confused at her, “Shouldn’t we wait for Zoro and Sanji.”

    “We’ll be late if we wait.”

    He laughed, “That rhymed.”

    She rolled her eyes as she turned the key, making the engine start. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Luffy got bored and turned the radio on. Nami didn’t take notice of what song was playing, she was so focused on the road and where it lead.

    “How’s school Luffy?” She asked drawing his attention away from the song and towards her.

    He smiled, “It’s good. Hard because I really don’t understand what the teachers are talking about, but other than that I’m happy.”

    “You’re always happy.”

    He shook his head, “Not when other people hurt my friends.”

    Her eyes widened and she almost turned to look at him, wanting to see what look he was making with that statement that was so out of character.

    “You would tell me if they’re hurting you, wouldn’t you?” 

    The question made her tighten her grip on the steering wheel, “O-of course.”

    Again silence filled the car and it didn’t leave until they reached the school. Like always he jumped out the car and ran towards where Chopper and Usopp were sitting. She waited just a minute or two longer before she felt his eyes staring at her. She opened the door and stepped out.

    Looking around she saw students make their way towards the door. Only one girl stood far from everyone else, Vivi, her one friend besides her housemates.

    The blue haired girl smiled when she saw Nami approaching, “Hey, where are Zoro and Sanji?”

“Either blaming the other for the car disappearing or arguing as they run to school.”

Vivi rolled her eyes, “Are they ever not arguing with each other?”

“I think when they’re in separate rooms they aren’t.”

She laughed as the bell rang, “Come on, we better get to class.”

When they entered the building the two separate heading towards their different classrooms, one being the junior classes and the other towards sophomore classes.

Nami looked over her shoulder to see Luffy and Usopp join Vivi on her walk towards their class and felt a pang in her heart. It wasn’t that she didn’t know people in her grade, being as how Sanji and Zoro were both in her grade, and Sanji was in most of her classes, but it was different not seeing those two. They were the two who she felt most at peace with.

Not to say that she didn’t feel comfortable around the other two, they were just different. Sanji was always trying to flirt with her and Zoro was always asleep before they could really get to know one another. So that left her with the only girl who would willing talk to her and Luffy, her seemingly always too happy roommate.

The class turned completely silent the moment she entered, but only for that moment before people returned to their conversations with added words about her mixed into them. She felt the tears begging to come forward, but she pushed them down not wanting to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

Ms. Nico sat down at the front of the class as the bell rang with her normal amused look on her face. “I hope everyone did their history homework.”

There were a few groans as the students who didn’t do it realized that they had homework. Nami looked down at her paper, it was complete, but the thought of walking to the front of the class to turn it in made her want to stay right where she was.

Ms. Nico looked up from the growing pile and saw the girl just staring at the paper. “Nami, would you like to turn that in?”

At her words, Nami looked up, “Ah, no, it’s not done.”

Robin just nodded, the amused look disappearing only for a moment. Nami could see it, and as she thought about turning it in but she could hear the snickers of other girls as they talked about the orange haired girl once again. ‘Of course she didn’t do it, she’s too stupid.’ ‘Probably too busy whoring herself around to care.’

It hurt, so Nami did what she always did, just put the paper back in her bag and stared at her now empty desk.

Robin started the lesson, and about ten minutes in the door burst open to reveal a panting Sanji. He looked furious, “That bastard, always making me late.”

“Sanji, please refrain from using such language and go to your seat,” Everyone could tell their teacher found this far too amusing as the blonde sat down in his usual seat, surrounded by beautiful girls.

“Sanji,” one of them whined, “why did you make us wait? We missed you.”

His eyes turned to hearts as he stared at the girl, “Sorry, the car was gone this morning so I had to run.”

“That’s okay, you can make it up to me by taking me out for dinner tonight.”

Nami just stared at him. She couldn’t believe how simple minded he was, or how amused their teacher was by this showcase of stupidity.

The rest of class went smoothly, and when the bell rang Nami waited until everyone had left before she dared to even stand up.

“Nami,” Robin said, “if you want to talk…”

She forced a smile, “It’s fine, really, it’s okay.”

She just nodded and watched as her student entered the hall with that look of complete despair.

Nami didn’t know what to do. She still had three more classes before lunch, before she could see Vivi and Luffy again. She opened her locker, replacing the books she needed with the books from her last class. She sighed, she would just have to stick it out until then and then she would just have to last another two classes before she could go home.

“Nami,” that overly happy voice she knew so well said.

She turned to see the always smiling Luffy standing there with the widest smile she had ever seen. “What’s up?”

“Do you want to ditch with me?”

She stared at him. She had never ditched before, never even thought about it, but as she stared at him she wanted to. So she nodded.

“Good, now come on.” He grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the entrance. “Before anyone notices we’re missing.”

She let him drag her, because the more she thought about it the more it made sense just to let him take her wherever he wanted to go.

“Do you ditch often?” She asked as they ran through the parking lot.

He just laughed. Which was probably more of an answer than just yes. That laugh told her that this was probably why the counselor was threatening to hold him back a year, not that that ever removed the monkey’s smile.

“Where are we going?”

“Just wait and see.”

She sighed as he pulled her along, through cars until they reached edge of the school property. She waited for him to say something, but he just walked through the lines of trees, and she followed without asking any questions.

He walked a few feet ahead of her, whistling a song she had never heard before. For the first time she really thought about the boy in front of her. He was so different from everyone else, so friendly that no one could not be friends with him once they’ve met him.

As she got lost in her thoughts, he stopped, and she ran into his back. He just smiled and laughed, “We’re here.”

She looked over his shoulder to see a small river flowing. “It’s… beautiful.” 

“Yeah, I found it a few days ago and thought that you would like it.”

Nami looked at him. She never thought that Luffy would think about her when finding something like this, or really think of her at all when he was ditching, but as she looked out at the calming river she couldn’t help but smile.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

He just shrugged as he sat down on a rock. He patted the space next to him, and she obediently sat down.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this is embarrassing, but I completely forgot I had published this. I got on this morning because I wanted to read some fanfiction and logged in and my works showed up... needless to say I was surprised to see this there.

As they walked back to school together for lunch Nami couldn’t help but think about all the time she spent with the boy, or how many times he seemed to be there when she was contemplating dying, always just in time to save the day.

She stopped just as they reached the school doors, and Luffy turned to stare at her with that look as if she were killing him by making him wait for food.

“Thank you,” she said. 

He tilted his head, “For what?”

“For everything.”

He laughed before looking back at the doors, “We better hurry or they’ll run out of food.”

Now it was her turn to laugh, “They only run out when you eat.”

“Come on, we better hurry,” she knew that he was so focused on food that he didn’t hear what she just said, but she couldn’t help but smile as he pulled her through the school towards the lunch room.

The lunch room, as always, was crowded as students tried to get in line before Luffy got there. So when the two entered there was an enormously long line of students who saw Luffy running towards the cafeteria.

“We’re late,” he whined as he took his place at the end of the seemingly never ending line.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure there will be plenty of food left for you.”

“Yeah, but now they really are going to sell out.”

“Only because you’re going to eat everything,” she teased, poking his side lightly. She continued to laugh while he complained about her teasing him until she heard them talking.

“Look at her.” “Doesn’t she have enough guys? Why is she going after Luffy?” “Yeah, doesn’t she know that he’s so much better than her?” “Maybe he doesn’t know what a whore she is.”

She stopped laughing, stopped feeling okay again. “H-hey Luffy, I think I’m just going to go sit down.”

He gives her a confused look, “But aren’t you hungry?”

“N-not really, honest I had a huge breakfast.”

“But Nami…”

“I’ll be fine. I just need to go to the bathroom.”

He nods slowly, “I’ll see you soon then?”

She just nods as she makes her way to the exit. She didn’t dare meet his eyes as she fled the lunch room. 

Nami felt like throwing up as she ran down the hall. She had been so happy to escape if only for a few hours. She had almost forgot what she was to everyone, a whore. He had made it so easy to forget, but that didn’t matter, because no matter how long she forgot they would always remind her.

When she pushed open the bathroom door she didn’t notice a certain teacher washing her hands. While holding her hand over her mouth, Nami fled to the closest stall and threw up in the toilet. She coughed as she thought of everything she had heard.

“Nami, are you alright?”

Nami looked over her shoulder at Robin. She could feel the tears building up again, and this time she couldn’t stop them. “I’m fine.”

As she was about to stand up the bathroom door swung up with a slam, “Nami, you forgot something.”

Both women turned to see an all too familiar boy standing at the door. 

“Mr. Monkey, I hope you realize that this is the girl’s washroom,” Robin said in her all too amused way of speaking.

The boy didn’t even get flustered as he stood there, completely ignoring the teacher, “You ran away so quickly you forgot your wallet.” He held the leather wallet out to her before noticing her tears. “Are you crying?”

She tried to wipe them away before he processed what she was doing, “No, of course not.”

He reached out turning her to face him, “Who made you cry?” He looked up at Robin. “Was it Ms. Nico? Because if it was I’ll kick her ass for sure.”

Robin couldn’t help but chuckle at the boy. He was always so innocent and so stupid sometimes that it entertained her to no end.

“No, it wasn’t Ms. Nico, I wasn’t crying.”

He blinked, “I told you to tell me if they hurt you. Did anyone hurt you?”

She shook her head, “This is still the girl’s bathroom, you need to leave.”

He blinked again, and even Robin could tell this boy was getting angry, not that it was hard to when his smile disappeared completely from his face. He stood up and walked towards the door only stopping for a moment, “If they do anything to you, you promised to tell me.”

Then he was gone and the two were alone again. Only after he was gone for a minute did Nami begin to cry again.

“He really does care for you,” Robin said.

Nami couldn’t say anything as tears hindered her ability to speak.

“But I suppose he’s like that to everyone.”

Nami nodded not knowing what else to do.

Robin kneeled down next to her and for once didn’t looked at all amused at the situation. “If you’re being bullied you can tell me. In fact, I recommend you tell me, because I can’t do anything unless I know who’s doing this.”

Nami just shook her head.

“Nami, if you don’t tell me I can’t do anything, and I’m sure that Luffy will do something. I think everyone would prefer you told me and allow me to handle this rather than him handling this.”

Again she shook her head, “I-I’m fine. T-there’s nothing to worry about. Honestly.”

“It doesn’t look that way.”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

Robin stood up, “You’re right, I can’t understand because you refuse to tell me. When you find the courage to tell someone, please find me and I will do my best to assist with this problem. Until then, I would recommend you go talk to Luffy before he goes to war over what you describe as nothing.”

Robin left the girl sitting on the floor all alone. After a few minutes Nami also left, having checked once in the mirror to make sure she didn’t look as horrible as she felt. 

She walked down the halls towards the lunch room where she knew Luffy would be. Robin was right, she had to talk to him before he did something more stupid than his usual stupid. The lunch room was as loud as ever, except there was something missing. There was no Luffy laughing and making jokes while he ate. In fact, Luffy wasn’t even eating, which worried everyone in the whole school while pleased the workers who now wouldn’t have to make anymore food for the bottomless pit of a boy.

“Stop being an idiot and eat,” Zoro told him as he tried to force the food in the boy’s mouth.

“I’m not hungry.”

Now, anyone who knew him would know that there is never a time when Luffy D. Monkey isn’t hungry, therefore that statement sent everyone into a panic.

“Does he have a fever?” Usopp asked as Chopper began to check the boy. 

“Doesn’t seem like it. Do you feel okay?”

“Maybe he just ate something bad and now he can’t eat anything else,” Sanji said.

Vivi then put in her input, “Or maybe someone threatened him and if he eats then he’ll be punished.”

“Maybe his grandfather showed up again.” “Maybe he ate something really good and now nothing he eats compares to that.” “Did he eat this morning?” “I don’t know.” “I don’t think this is good.” “Of course it’s not good, it’s Luffy who isn’t eating.”

She sat down across from him and stared into his eyes. They reflected hate, hurt, and just a total lack of laughter. “You need to eat,” he said.

She almost laughed, as everyone was arguing about what was wrong he was just there, and it seemed so was she. “So do you. You’re making everyone worry.”

“I know, but if they knew about you they would worry about you too.”

“No they won’t, because they have you to make them smile.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes we feel as if we're drowning, and for some of us there is someone to pull us out of the deep. But for those that don't they have two choices, sink or swim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize that I haven't given this story a lot of love, and that's because I ready the story before I begin to write more and sometimes I can't bring myself to keep writing because I have how I want it to end and how I feel it will end... sometimes I don't want it to end because of that.

It was awkward to say the least on the drive home. Sanji had gotten to the car first, therefore he drove them all home, and although Luffy sat in the back and Nami sat in the front it didn’t help with the unnaturally tense atmosphere between the two.

“Nami~,” Sanji hummed, taking his eyes off the road to look at her, “what would you like for dinner tonight?”

She waited, he asked this everyday and everyday Luffy voiced out his complaint on never being able to decide what they would eat. But today it never came.

“...Nami?” Sanji said after a minute without an answer.

She blinked and looked in the rearview mirror at Luffy, but he didn’t look to meet her eyes. “D-don’t you have a date tonight? We’ll cook so you can get ready.”

His eyes turned to hearts at the thought of the dates he had lined up for that night, and of course he gladly told her he would force the two in the back to cook because a lady shouldn’t have to cook.

Now no one would ever say that they couldn’t cook… at least not to their faces, but they couldn’t cook. Zoro kept falling asleep or acting uninterested, while Luffy kept trying to eat everything.

She laughed while Sanji screamed at them for ruining his kitchen, but he left yelling about how if he was late for his date he would kill them.

“Why don’t we just order a pizza?” She asked once the blonde had left. Both stopped in their never ending effort to make something to edible and nodded.

“That sounds good,” Zoro said. “I’ll leave that to the two of you.” He walked away, probably to go take a nap.

Luffy grinned, “Can we get a meat-lover’s?”

She nodded, “We’ll get two.”

Now the boy was excited, TWO meat-lover's pizzas? He never even got one most of the time.

As they waited for the pizzas to arrive the two choose to watch a movie. Not that that was a good idea seeing as how Luffy couldn’t sit still. Throughout the movie, especially after the pizza got there he couldn’t stop moving.

“Luffy, sit still,” Nami barked when she got tired of the boy squirming on the couch.

He pointed to the duct tape that she had used to cover his mouth in hopes that it would stop him from talking long enough for her to enjoy what was left of the movie.

“If I take it off, you have to promise to stop talking AND to stop moving so much. Do you promise?”

He nodded and leaned forwards slightly to make it easier to remove the tape.

“Alright, it goes back on if you break your promise.”

He nodded again.

She pulled the tape off quickly, in hopes to make it as painless as possible. He let out a yelp and rubbed the now red line forming over his lips.

“That hurt,” he mumbled.

She sighed patting him on his back to comfort him. He mumbled about how mean she was to do something like that to him, but soon grew quiet and began to watch the movie again. Nami smiled, but it soon turned to shock as the boy put his head in her lap.

“Wh-”

He shushed her, turning to watch the movie with her. After a few moments he fell asleep and she finally built up the confidence to tell him everything.

“Luffy,” she whispered. “I-I’ve been lying to you.”

“...”

“They’ve so many horrible things,” the tears are building up, “they call me a slut and a whore. They’re so cruel to me.”

“...”

“I just don’t know what to do anymore. I can’t bare to pain. I’ve tried to kill myself so many times now that I’ve lost track, b-but you were always there to stop me.”

“...”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

He never woke up, and for the first time in a long time she was happy that he wasn’t awake to comfort her. She didn’t want him to see her weak once again. 

She sighed running her fingers through his hair. “You should bathe more often… because this is gross.” She laughed lightly as he groaned in his sleep as if he had heard her. “Don’t worry, I’ll wait until you’re awake.”

She moved ever so slowly as to not wake the boy until she was comfortable, and as the movie played she drifted to sleep, lulled by the sound of his snores.

Nami woke up to find a screaming Sanji, an injured Luffy, and an irritated Zoro all standing in front of her.

“What’s going on?”

All three stopped and turned to look at her. In an instant Sanji’s eyes turned to hearts and he held her hand complimenting her on how beautiful she was even after sleeping all night.

She looked at the other two, hoping for an answer.

Zoro rolled his eyes, “Shit brows there came home to find you and Luffy on the couch, and of course being the shit head he his, he jumped to conclusions.”

She looked at the now irritated blonde and nodded slowly. “Sanji, we just fell asleep watching a movie. That’s all.”

He looked up at her and his eyes turned to hearts once again, “Well it must be true since my beautiful Nami says so.”

She smiled softly and moved to stand up, “I think it’s time we headed to bed.”

Zoro had started for the stairs before she could even finish what she was going to say and at the mention of sleep Sanji was already in in kitchen preparing warm milk to help her sleep. And that just left the two of them in silence.

“H-hey,” she mumbled.

He smiled, “Hey.”

“I-I’m gonna go to bed,” she got up and walked towards the stairs only to be stopped by someone grabbing onto her hand. She turned to see Luffy’s brown eyes staring at her. “W-what’s wrong?”

He just smiled and placed a light kiss on her forehead. “Nothing.”

Then he was gone, up the stairs and gone. Leaving a red Nami standing alone on the stairs.

“Nami, why are you so red? Do you have a fever?” Sanji asked, as he left the kitchen milk in hand.

She shook her head, “Just tired.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really do love this story and I'm sorry to say it's not close to ending, but I do hope that some of you will be willing to stay with me on this journey to the end.


	5. Sick Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really sorry I haven't updated in a long time. It's just been hard for me to get everything together and make time for this in the list of things that I've had to do but I promise I have a plan, I don't know if it's a good one but it's one.  
> 

    That night she couldn’t sleep. She found herself tossing and turning, thinking about tomorrow, about Luffy, and most of all about herself. So when she got out of bed that morning it didn’t surprise her when her body didn’t want to move.

Twenty minutes later Sanji was in her room with breakfast, “I hope you like it~”

“Hey Sanji, I think I’m going to stay home today. So don’t wait up.”

And now he was worried, “Do you have a fever? Is there something I can do? Don’t answer, I’ll just stay home and take care of you.”

“There’s no need for that. I’m fine, just need more sleep.” He hesitated. “I wonder what Levy and Lucy will do if you aren’t there to carry their bags.” Then he was down the stairs and ready to leave with or without the other two. 

    She sighed ready to close her door when she caught the too familiar red jacket being swung over a too familiar black haired boy’s shoulder. “Nami, hurry up or we’ll be late,” he said with that all too familiar grin.

    “I-I’m going to stay home today.”

    He tilted his head, “Are you sick?”

    “Yeah,” she answered quicker than she planned to.

    He opened his mouth to say something else when Sanji started beating the horn stopping their conversation completely.

    She smiled weakly, “You should go.”

    He nodded, running down the stairs. She stood in the hall and listened as his footsteps disappeared down the stairs and the car pulled out of the driveway with one more beep of the horn.

    She closed the door just to have someone knock three seconds later. She almost sighed, knowing exactly who was standing there. “Luffy, I thought you were to school.”

    “One of my friends are sick. I can’t just leave her alone,” he said to her with a large grin.

    And she almost cried. “Alright, then you better be ready to wait on me.” He smiled and she smiled back, “starting with you getting me some water.”

    For a moment she didn’t know if he would do it or not, but two seconds later he was running down the stairs towards the kitchen. She sighed and shook her head thinking about how innocent and naive he was, but part of her knew that that was what made him so wonderful.

    “I didn’t know if you wanted ice or not,” he said running up the stairs with two cups in hand, one filled the the brim with water and the other with ice. “So I got both.” He grinned at her and she felt the corners of her mouth pull up in a small smile.

    “Thanks,” she said taking both, “Now I’m going to go back to sleep, so you can go watch tv or something.”

    “Shouldn’t you be telling me to study like usual?”

    She almost laughed, “When have you ever listened to me when I tell you to do that?”

    He opened his mouth to answer, but for the first time in a long time he had no words to say. She nodded, closing the door behind her.

    Fortunately Nami did succeed in getting a couple hours of sleep to make up for the missed hours during the night and instead of nightmares she was blessed with the image of a creek in the middle of nowhere with a boy she couldn’t quite make out in the blinding light. And then she woke up and all she could think was how reality was so dark compared to a good dream.

    She sighed attempting to fix her messy hair to little effect. Quickly she walked past her mirror and opened the door slowly to call for Luffy, only to find him playing one of his multitude of games right next to her door. 

    He stopped pushing the buttons to look up at her and smile, “You slept for a really long time Nami, it’s almost time for Sanji and Zoro to come home.”

    “Really,” she said looking back her clock to see that he was right. “Well thanks for standing guard then.”

    “Well, I didn’t sit here all day, I got some lunch out of the fridge, and got my game and then had to get more games because I finished the first one then I had to get a snack and I didn’t know when you would wake up or what you wanted to e…” she cut him off by sitting down next to him and leaning against his shoulder.

    “You didn’t have to, so thank you.”

    He frowned, “Of course I did, you’re my friend.” She frowned to, but not because he did something stupid or because he thought he needed to do something he didn’t but because she knew he would do this for anyone he cared about, that she wasn’t special.

    “I guess we should get dinner started before the other two get home.” At that Luffy started laughing. “What?”

    “I can’t cook and you can only cook a soup.”

    “Then we’ll have soup for dinner.”

    He looked at her in shock, “But I want meat!”

    She rolled her eyes, “You have to eat something other than meat.”

    He grumbled about how mean she was to him, but quickly stopped when she raised her hand to hit him. And apart of her wanted to, wanted to hit him and go back to before he walked into that bathroom and pulled her back, but another wanted to everything to change. One just yelled louder than the other and so she placed her hand on his head and ruffled his hair. 

    The moment she did however she almost instantly regretted it when all she saw was confusion on his face and in his eyes. Hoping to escape she quickly said the first thing on her mind, “You need a shower.”

    The confused look was replaced by one of fear and he stared at her dreading the idea of taking a bath. “No I don’t.”

    “Don’t worry,” she said simply, “We still have some time before the soup has to be started.” With that Luffy jumped up in hopes of escaping Nami, to no avail as she grabbed his ear and dragged him towards the bathroom read to rid the house of at least one of the awful smells that inhabited it.

    When Luffy was clean and his jacket had been placed in the washer Nami decided it was good time to get things started for dinner so it was one less thing that Sanji had to worry about when he got home. However Nami didn’t think Luffy was going to be much help as he moped on the couch about how horrible she was.

    She started by cutting the vegetables and only got through one carrot when she heard the car race into the driveway followed by shouting and cursing by a blonde and a moss head. The two walked in Sanji with keys in hand. 

    “I have a date tonight and I need the car,” Sanji yelled as if Zoro couldn’t hear him.

    “Then put gas in it this time shit brows!” Zoro yelled back as if Sanji couldn’t hear him.

    “It’s not my week to pay for gas!”

    “Yeah but you keep using the car for your ‘dates’ and wasting everyone else’s money!”

    “As long as it’s not Nami’s money who gives a shit!”

    She sighed as the two made their way up the stairs still arguing about nonsense. That is until Sanji attempted to see if she was doing okay and found her bed empty. He was down the stairs questioning Luffy within seconds.

    “Where’s Nami?” He asked the younger boy franticly.

    “She’s in the kitchen.”

    “Why is she in the ktichen?”

    “She’s cooking?”

    Silence. Then, “Why are you letting our precious, SICK Nami cook ill!?” Then, what Nami could only guess, was a kick to Luffy’s head followed by Luffy complaining about how it hurt.

    Then Sanji was in the kitchen with hearts in his eyes, “Nami~ I’ll do that for you~ you just rest~”

    She nodded, not wanting to make him any angrier at Luffy then he already was and handed him the knife before leaving the kitchen to go check on Luffy. 

    She entered the living room to find him over the kick he received just moments before and playing yet another video game. “You really should do at least some of your homework if you don’t want to be held back a year.”

    His frown deepened as he died, “I don’t get it so I choose not to.”

    “Then you don’t you ask one of us for help.”

    “Because Zoro always falls asleep and you and Sanji get angry at me.”

    Now it was her turn to frown, she never thought the usually too-happy-for-his-own-good boy was ever effected by the way he was treated by anyone or even noticed when someone wasn’t nice to him. “I’m sorry…”

    He looked over at her and gave her one of his signature smiles, “It’s okay, you and Sanji just have anger issues.”

    And like that all sympathy she just had for him disappeared. “I going to take a bath before dinner,” she said irritation laced in every word.

    “Okay,” he said shortly followed by, “Make sure you come up to breathe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter tonight, another one should be up by tomorrow once I've had a chance to read through it and make sure that I like it. I also plan to start a collection of one-shots centered around One Piece and once that is started those will have at least one one-shot added a month, but more could be posted as well.  
> One last thing, thank you to those who have stuck around and I hope you willing to stay to the end!


	6. Chapter 6

She sank into the tub so only her nose and eyes remained above, Luffy’s words playing over and over again in her head.  _ Did he know? _ She thought,  _ no, it’s Luffy. The same boy who couldn’t tell when he made someone angry. There’s no way he would notice something like this. _

She sat up and leaned back with a sigh, “Then why would he say that?” She asked out loud to her thoughts that believed in the naivety of Luffy.

A knocked echoed through the room. “Who is it?” She asked, already knowing that it wasn’t Luffy.

“It’s your knight in shining armor~” She almost gagged. “Dinner’s almost ready my sweet~”

“Okay, I’ll be out in a minute.” She stepped out of the tub, wrapping the towel tightly around her. Stepping into the hall she looked around to make sure the coast was clear before making her way to her room where she found a passed out Luffy on her bed.

She stared at the black haired boy and gave a small smile, once again ruffling his hair but for the first time it wasn’t completely disgusting. He gave a small groan before shooting up surprising her completely. The towel fell to the floor between them and a bright red blush covered both of their faces.

“Don’t look!” she yelled loud enough to get it through his head that she wasn’t happy but not to alert the blonde down stairs.

Luffy did absolutely nothing and just continued to stare. Nami on the other hand quickly picked up her towel and hit him hard on the head. He let out an “Ow!” before reaching up to touch the bump that was forming on his head.

“Get out!” she yelled pointing towards her door. Luffy sulked out the room mumbling about how it wasn’t his fault, but she didn’t care. 

She sat on her bed, face in hands not caring that her door was wide open and that anyone in the house could see her crying. She didn’t care that Zoro walked back and didn’t even look her way, but did stop for a moment to look at his phone. She didn’t care that he and Sanji started arguing the moment he walked down the stairs, nor did she care that ever so often they would say her name.

What felt like forever passed as she sunk to her floor, still only the towel wrapped around her. She didn’t hear someone enter until the soft voice of Vivi filled the room. “Nami? Are you okay?” She shook her head in response. “What happened?”

“He saw everything.”

Vivi kneeled down beside her, “Who did?” Again she just shook her head. “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me… please Nami, I’m your friend.”

“I’m sorry, I-I just want to be alone right now.”

Vivi nodded, standing up and walking to the door, stopping just short of the hall, “When you’re ready I’ll be here.” She closed the door behind her, leaving Nami by herself.

She stood up slowly, leaving the towel behind to go look in the mirror. She stared at herself and frowned at what she saw, too fat, to thin, too big, and in that moment she didn’t want to look anymore. She quickly ran to her dresser and pulled on some clothes that covered what she found so unattractive.

She looked at the time, barely 8:00 but she was sure that dinner was done, the kitchen was clean, and at least one of her roommates was asleep another was probably out of the house and the last one was probably in the living room watching tv or playing video games. Slowly she walked down the stairs hoping not to draw attention to herself as she went to the kitchen for something to eat, even though she knew she shouldn’t.

And as she expected one of her roommates was still awake, and unfortunately it was the one she definitely didn’t want to see. Luffy looked over his shoulder and smile, “Hey Nami, you missed dinner. Sanji was really mad and then Sanji and Zoro started fighting and then Vivi came over, but I think you already knew that… Sanji left you a plate in the fridge.”

“Thanks,” she muttered not knowing what else to say. He only smiled before turning back to his game.

She entered the kitchen and quickly at some of what was on the plate before throwing the rest away. When she entered the living room again Luffy was still on the couch, but this time he was watching some show that was making him laugh, not that it was very hard to do that.

“I’m going to bed,” she stated.

He didn’t even look up from his show, “Good night.”

When she reached her room she closed the door and crawled under her covers dreading having to get up in the morning and face everything she didn’t want to. But no matter how much she wanted the next day to never come it did and she knew if she attempted to stay home today there would be no way Sanji would leave her alone. So when her alarm went off she got dressed in the least revealing clothing she had and walked down stairs ready to leave.

“Nami~ I had you some breakfast~” Sanji said sinning towards her with plate in had. She look at it and saw it was piled high with eggs, toast, and fruit. Her stomach turned at the idea of having to eat all of it.

“Thanks, but I think I’ll just have and piece of toast,” she said taking a piece of toast off the plate and leaving everything else. “Why don’t you give the rest to Luffy.”

Sanji frowned, but gave the plate to a very eager Luffy who scarfed down the whole plate in seconds. Moments later Zoro entered the room with bag in tow.

“It’s time to leave,” was all he said as he grabbed the keys and started for the door followed shortly by Sanji who was talking about how he should drive.

Nami climbed into the back seat next to Sanji who started talking about how stupid it was that the two who had no sense of direction were the two in the front seat, but how amazing it was to be sitting next to her.

On the drive there she tried not to focus on the glances Luffy was giving her over his shoulder, but ever so often she knew their eyes met and she would always be the first to look away. Nami began to think that the other two realized neither were paying much attention because it took an extra ten minutes to get to school due to the fact they had to turn around twice when Luffy didn’t tell Zoro they were going the wrong way, but in the end they did arrive.

Outside the school as always was Usopp and Chopper eagerly waiting for Luffy one ready to tell him a new tall tale and the other ready to tell him about the book he read the night before. Before the car even stopped Luffy was out and running across the parking lot. Sanji was gone in the matter in a matter of seconds as well when a group of girls walked past them towards the school’s front. Then only Zoro and Nami were left. 

“So what did the idiot do?” He asked as she opened the door. 

She pulled her leg back into the car and looked over at him, “What do you mean?”

“Who do you think texted ViVi? It definitely wasn’t one of those two. I heard you crying and judging by the way ViVi left yesterday I would say you didn’t tell her, so I thought I’d ask.”

“Like you care…”

“You’re right, I don’t care about you, but that idiot is my best friend, I guess, and it’s affecting him to.”

She blinked thinking for a moment, “Don’t worry about it, it’s Luffy, nothing affects Luffy.”

She stepped out of the car ready to close the door when Zoro spoke, “If that’s what you think then you obviously don’t know him as well as you think you do.” She slammed the door and walked away from the car.

ViVi was waiting at her normal place with a sad smile, “Hey, you feeling better.”

“Great,” was all she said before walking through the doors not knowing if ViVi was behind her or not.


	7. Chapter 7

In class she kept her head down, didn’t answer any questions even when asked, didn’t get the assignments she missed because she didn’t care at that moment. Zoro’s words just kept playing again and again in her head.  _ It was affecting Luffy? _ As if Luffy understood what she was going through. Luffy, the same person who could make friends with absolutely anyone, the one that everyone liked.

“Do you think bottling it all up is going to make everything better?” Nami turned to catch ViVi’s eyes.

She frowned, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s nothing I have to say.” She turned back to face forwards and walked at a slightly faster pace.

“Zoro told me you were crying because of something Luffy did,” ViVi said catching up to her. “I just want to help you. If Luffy did something he shouldn’t have then tell me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“No, of course you don’t.” ViVi stopped in the hall just as the bell rang making them both late. “You know, I get that you don’t want anyone to worry, but when you keep everything from everyone you just make them worry more. You even made Zoro and Luffy worried.”

Nami turned to glare at her, “What do you want me to say? I’m sorry?”

“I just want you to trust me enough to share what’s causing you so much pain.” She paused. “I… just don’t understand why you’re hiding things from your friends.”

“That’s right, you don’t understand. None of you understand what it’s like to be me and even if you could understand I don’t know where to start with what’s wrong.”

ViVi looked at her with the saddest look she had ever seen on the girl’s face. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I wouldn’t understand, maybe no one would understand, but I know for sure that I can’t understand if you never tell me.”

Neither blinked for a moment before Nami broke eye contact with a simple, “I need to get to class.” She left, leaving the younger girl standing alone in the hall before a teacher walked by and told her to get to class.

Nami stopped just short of her class door before turning towards the exterior doors and walking out as she did that day with Luffy. She walked through the parking lot towards a creek that she knew was in her dreams. She followed the same path that she had when she was with him and for a moment she expected his laughter to fill the air around her, but there was only silence.

She entered the clearing and looked to see if anyone else was there before sitting on the stone he had shown her that day and finally let the tears flow out of her. She cried because of what happened with Luffy and Zoro and ViVi. She cried because she was scared of what would happen if anyone found out that she was scared when she was supposed to be fearless.

“Nami?” She didn’t need to look to know who was standing behind her.

“Go away,” she said hoping that he would get the clue that she wanted to be left alone, but as he sat down next to her she knew he didn’t. “Go away,” she repeated, curling her knees into her chest so she could hide the fact she was crying.

Again he didn’t listen and placed a hand on her back. She thought he was going to speak, try to comfort her, but he didn’t. He only sat there, hand rubbing her back. She shot a glare at him, but saw he wasn’t even looking at her, just staring into the trees on the other side of the creek.

So she cried, she didn’t know why she did only that they wouldn’t stop flowing out of her and that his hand on her back was warm. She continued to cry for a few more minutes before she was reduced to just sniffles.

“Why?” She asked simply.

And he turned to her, reaching up to wipe the last of her tears and snot on the sleeve of his favorite jacket. “Because you’re my friend and I can’t just let you cry alone,” he said with a huge grin on his face.

She turned away, blinded by his general brightness. Slowly she leaned against him allowing his warmth to wash off her. She didn’t know if this made him uncomfortable but by the way he sighed and leaned into her she was sure he was okay with it.

After a few moments of pleasant silence he spoke, “I forgot to tell you, Robin wanted to see you in her room before the end of the day.”

She didn’t look at him, already knowing he was looking at her. “You really shouldn’t call her Robin in school.”

She felt as he shrugged, but past that she was sure he didn’t care. “I was just giving you the message.”

“Do you know why?”

Silence before, “No.”

She nodded. “Okay, I’ll go during lunch. Just give me one more moment here.”

And he stilled, something he rarely did, but in that moment he did allowing her a moment to be absorbed by his warmth and the sound of the creek as it continued to flow. 

Then the moment was over, the school bell was ringing calling students towards the lunch room. She glanced towards her companion to see if he was going to jump up and start towards the school, but he didn’t.

“Hey, it’s lunch we should probably head back up,” she said still staring at him.

He looked at her and nodded, standing up slowly before putting his hand out to help her. She took it almost wishing she hadn’t said anything as her skin grew cold again.

They walked up side-by-side, not rushing, just taking their time as they walked. She brushed her hand against his, hoping that something would click in his head and he would take her hand like she was so hoping. He didn’t.

When they reached the school doors he looked at her, “Don’t forget about Robin.”

She nodded, “I know, on my way now.”

Now it was his turn to nodded, “See you later then.”

“Yeah,” she said, “See you later.”

She turned left and he turned right. She glanced back, he didn’t.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the fourth chapter posted for May and although I said that was how many I would be posting a month I actually plan to get at least another two chapters out this month with one hopefully done by tomorrow and another one by next week. After that I will be taking a little break for a week or two just to work on another story and get some one-shots posted, but I will be back sooner than I was last time.

She entered the classroom, wondering what she would have done had he looked back, had their eyes met. She didn’t even notice the woman and man standing by the desk, only snapping out of her thoughts when she ran into the desk in the front row.

A small chuckle of amusement followed and Nami knew that her teacher was in the room. She turned to see the woman staring at her with an amused twinkle in her eyes, then the man standing next to her trying his hardest not to laugh. 

After a moment of complete embarrassment for Nami and amusement for the adults in the room Nami finally spoke, “You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, Nami this is Mr. Cutty Flam,” she said the twinkle in her eyes sparkling at the name.

“But call me Franky,” he basically yelled.

“Hello,” Nami said before turning back to her teacher. “I still don’t know why I’m here.”

“Yes, well, Franky is the school’s new counselor and I happened to speak to him about the incident in the bathroom and he would like to speak to you if that’s alright.”

She stared at the adult in shock, “No it’s not. Nothing even happened I just wasn’t feeling well so I threw up.”

Now Franky spoke, “Listen kid, I get not wanting to speak out because you’re scared of what everyone will think of you, but you don’t have to worry if someone is bullying you you can tell us then I can take care of it but I do need you to tell me who they are and what they’ve been doing.”

Nami walked to the door and opened it, giving them one last glance, “I told you, nothing is wrong, thank you for your concern but honestly, I don’t need help.” Then she was gone, towards the lunch room. 

Standing in the middle of the hall were two girls, two girls she knew so well.

“Oh look who it is,” one started.

“A slut,” the other finished before they both broke into laughter.

She paused for a moment before she continued towards her destination.

“Who does she think she is?” The first one said loud enough so she could hear. “All she does is fuck every boy so they like her and then acts like she’s all that.” She stopped.

“Yeah, at least we don’t have to sleep around to get people to like us.”

“I feel sorry for her roommates.”

She didn’t turn around, couldn’t turn around, because she knew if she did she would say something or do something. So she stood in silence while they laughed.

“At least she doesn’t have to pile makeup on her face to be beautiful,” she felt the presence behind her, Sanji. She took a glance over her shoulder to see him standing in front of them. “You’re both so ugly right now,” he said glaring down at them as they shrank. Then he walked over to her, “Come on Nami, everyone’s waiting.”

She followed two steps behind until they stood only a few feet from the lunchroom doors. “Thanks for your help,” she said as she attempted to walk by him only to be stopped when he grabbed her wrist.

“Why haven’t you told anyone?” He asked.

“It’s nothing.”

He gave her a look, one that reflected everything she felt disappointment, sadness, anger. “Bull shit. If it was nothing you would have kept walking, you would have done something other than stand there.”

“It’s nothing,” she repeated, “now let me go so I can eat.”

He stared at her, “That’s a lie.” 

She glared at him.

“What? You think I haven’t noticed your change in eating habits?” He stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You’re important to me, everything I make for you is to keep you healthy. I’ve noticed that you’ve been eating less and less.”

“What do you want from me?” She asked, still trying to pull her wrist away from him.

“The truth. What’s going on?”

“Like I said, it’s nothing.”

He let her go, “If you say so.” Then he walked in through the doors.

She stood there, watching through the glass as he walked towards their normal table and began talking to ViVi. Slowly she opened the door but stopped, knowing that if she went in she would have to face three people who weren’t happy with her and the noise that would follow her as she made her way to them. She turned around and walked down the hall, not sure of where she was going, just that it wasn’t there.

She left school and walked through the parking lot, not towards the creek, but towards the bus stop. She knew that it would only take one bus to get home and then she could just curl up under her covers and hide from the world.

“Nami!” Someone yelled from behind her. She thought of just continuing on her way, that maybe like before he wouldn’t look towards her and just go back to where he belonged. “Nami, wait up!” But he didn’t, she turned with watery eyes towards the boy running towards her.

“What do you want?” She asked staring at him, Luffy.

He stopped just short of her with a smile that almost faltered at her question. “Are you leaving?”

She nodded.

“Then I’ll go too.”

She shook her head. “Go back to school.”

Now it was his turn to shake his head.

“Why are you like this?” She yelled, finally voicing everything she thought. “Why do you care about me when I don’t want you to?”

His smile disappeared and he stared at her with all the seriousness in the world, “Because you’re my friend.”

She began to shake at his words, lowering her head. “Do you know how it makes me feel when you say things like that?” He didn’t answer. “I’m no more special to you than anyone else in there and yet when you say things like that you make me feel so important that it hurts because I know that’s just how you are.” She looked up at him, “Please, just stop being so nice to me.”

He stared at her, even though she couldn’t see his face she knew he was looking at her with that too serious look. “No,” he said as if it was as simple as that.

She almost laughed, but instead turned around and began her walk away from the school. She could hear him behind her following. “Go back Luffy, I don’t want you to follow me.”

“I’m not following you, I’m just going home.” She knew it was a lie, but she let him follow anyways. 

When the bus arrived she sat away from him and thankfully he didn’t attempt to do anything about it only looked over his shoulder ever so often to see if she was still there. Not that she could go anywhere without him noticing since he was sitting at the front on the bus talking to the driver ever so often.

Their stop came and she got off as quickly as possible. She could hear Luffy behind her saying his goodbyes to the driver as well as some of the people he was sitting around and by the time he was done she was already half way up the stairs in her failed attempted to get away from him as he raced up behind her.

She turned on him with a glare, “Leave me alone.”

He blinked, “My room is upstairs too.” She rolled her eyes, finishing the journey up the stairs and was in her room before he could say anything else. 

The door slammed behind her as she sat at her desk, the only thing on there was a few pictures, some books, and some drawings she had done when she was interested in being an artist. She picked up one of the pictures, it was when she was younger with her sister and adopted mom. The other was a picture of when she moved into this house, one of her, Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy standing in front of their home with smiles on all their faces expect Zoro who seemed bored with the whole ordeal. 

She sighed, placing the pictures back in their places before opening the drawer to her right. The only thing in there was some razor blades, something she had bought because of a whim, no, more because she thought maybe it would help that maybe this pain would hurt more than the pain of spending everyday being called a whore. She thought for a moment about using them, thought about it before closing the drawer when a knock sounded from the door.

She looked up at the door in shock, one because Luffy was never one to knock and two because of his timing. “C-come in,” she stuttered out.

He opened the door and walked to sit on her bed, but didn’t once attempt to make eye contact. “I’m sorry,” he said, once again leaving her in shock. “You’re special to me so I got carried away when I saw that you were sad. I didn’t mean to make you sad.”

“It’s okay, I know that’s just how y-”

“That’s not true,” he yelled cutting her off. “I mean, I know I’m nice to everyone but that’s because I like people. But they aren’t you. You’re important to me different from how everyone else is important.

“I mean, you get angry and are mean sometimes but you still give me food to eat and smile at me when I do something right. And you can be nice, but you choose who to be nice to and when you’re nice to someone it because they’re special to you.”

She stared at him as silence filled the space between them.

Then he spoke again, “I’m nice to everyone except to people who hurt someone I find important. That’s why I get upset when you don’t tell me what’s wrong unless you think I’m asleep.”

She blinked, letting his words flow through her mind and process exactly what he was saying. “You were awake that night?”

He nodded.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because I knew that if you wanted to tell me you would have told me when I was awake.”

She stared unblinking at him as he stared back, neither wanting or able to break eye contact. “Then why tell me now?”

“Everyone told me,” he said, “although I don’t think they thought I really understood what’s going on. And I still don’t think I do. Can you tell me?”

She held her breath, hoping that he would leave, that she could continue to believe that he didn’t know, that she didn’t tell an awake Luffy everything.

“Nami, why did you cry yesterday?”

Now she looked away, knowing that if she continued to stare at him that she wouldn’t be able to hold it together, that she may just break down. “Because you saw me,” she answered, not knowing what else to say.

“But I’ve seen you naked plenty of times.”

“I know, but it was always just a moment, or it was before… before everything.” She looked at him now, hoping to see what he was thinking, but for the first time ever the black haired boy in front of her wasn’t wearing his emotions. “I’m not cute like ViVi or beautiful like Robin and I can’t even compare myself to the other girl’s in our school. I’m just… ugly.”

“You’re wrong,” he said interrupting her thoughts. “I think you’re really pretty, the prettiest girl I’ve ever met.”

Again she looked to see if she could tell what he was thinking and again all she saw was a seriousness she didn’t think he was capable of. “That’s not true. There are plenty of girls prettier than me.”

He shrugged, “Maybe, but to me there isn’t.”

She laughed, she didn’t want to be she couldn’t hold it in. Which in turn caused him to laugh until they were there just laughing as if they didn’t just have a serious conversation.

When they finally were able to stop she looked at him, “I’m sorry.” He tilted his head in confusion so she continued her thought. “I’m not ready to tell you everything, or anything at all.”

He opened his mouth, ready to argue when she stopped him. “No, I’m fine.”

“And when you aren’t?” He asked.

“Then I’ll come to you.”

He nodded, standing up  and walking to her door. Only to have her stop him with a grab of his wrist.

“Thank you,” she said before leaning in to place her lips lightly on his. It lasted only for a moment before she pushed him the rest of the way out the door and closed it before he could say anything else.

She breathed, catching her reflection in the mirror, bright red cheeks and all. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haven't posted anything in a long time so decided to make this chapter a little different by following another character and I apologize for it not being that great.

    Zoro wasn’t interested in other people, never really had been, at least until the day he met the black-haired boy with a smile that was too wide. That day he held some concern for one person.

  


    As he walked down the hall after his conversation with Nami in the car he could hear her and ViVi nearly yelling at each other. What surprised him was the fact that no one else seemed to hear in the whole school, but he didn’t let it bother him too much because he didn’t really care. However he did stop making sure to give them their space to work things out for themselves.

    “That’s right, you don’t understand. None of you understand what it’s like to be me and even if you could understand I don’t know where to start with what’s wrong,” Nami yelled.

    Zoro continued to listen as ViVi mumbled something he couldn’t quiet hear and as Nami said something before walking away. “Idiot,” he mumbled as ViVi ran past him towards her own class.

    He turned the corner following a ways behind Nami before breaking off into his own class where he was berated for being late by the teacher, who told him that if he was late again he would give him detention, and falling asleep as the teacher started on about something he could care less about. 

    As he walked through the hall he saw a very familiar blonde with swirling eyebrows. He stopped at his locker only to be kicked by said blonde. “What the hell, shit-brows.”

    “Shut up moss head, what did you say to Nami?”

    He raised one eyebrow before turning back to the almost empty locker, “What does it matter to you?”

    “I’m worried, she didn’t come to class this morning.”

    “Maybe she’s just ditching.”

    The look of shock conveyed that he didn’t think that was possible.

    “She ditched with Luffy earlier this week.”

    “No she didn’t,” Sanji said nearly yelling.

    Zoro groaned, knowing that this wasn’t going to end anytime soon. “I don’t know where she is, all I know is she was on her way to class the last time I saw her.” And with that Sanji was gone, most likely to find ViVi and see if she knew.

    Just as the blonde left someone else came up to his locker this time the visitor was black-haired and unlike the first time they met didn’t have a too wide smile. “What did Sanji want?” Luffy asked.

    Zoro sighed, wishing he had never met his boy, before answering, “Nami wasn’t in first period.”

    Luffy nodded thinking for only a moment because that was the length it normally took him to make a decision. “Okay, see you later,” he said before walking right out the double doors.

    He shook his head, “I guess he knows where she is.” Closing his locker.

    The rest of the day until lunch went without much more than Sanji asking him every hour if he had seen Nami and Usopp asking if he had seen Luffy, and he always answered the same way, no try texting them, but it seemed that they had either left their phones in the car, which for Luffy was pretty likely, or they were ignoring their phones, which was probably what Nami was doing.

    Then everything went to hell during lunch. First there was Luffy who seemed pretty depressed about that morning and refused to tell Zoro what had happened, then there was ViVi who was trying to talk to him about Nami when he was trying to eat, Usopp and Chopper were voicing their concerns about the currently not eating Luffy and the fact that a few minutes after lunch started Sanji entered with a look that reflected just how angry he was.

    “Enough,” he yelled causing everyone, even Sanji, at the table to go quiet. “Luffy, go after Nami, you’re the only one who seems to be able to get anything out of her when she’s like this.” Luffy nodded before running off, hopefully getting to her before she was too far away.

    He sat back down, “There, now leave me alone.”

    Sanji mumbled something about how Zoro should have told him to go after his precious Nami but at that point he didn’t care, so Sanji left probably to chase after some girl’s skirt. Usopp and Chopper left shortly after for the library to research the project they apparently had due.

    ViVi laughed once they were alone.

    “What?” He mumbled annoyed he couldn’t sleep.

    “It’s just you always talk about how you don’t care about anyone but from what I can see you actually do care about us.”

    “I don’t care about any of you,” he said sitting up ready to leave.

    “What about Luffy? Isn’t he your best friend?”

    He stopped, “That’s different, Luffy isn’t like everyone else.”

    “But you still care?”

    “Yeah so what?”

    “I mean, Luffy cares about everyone and knowing you, you would want to protect him from being sad so you have to care about everyone he cares about. Therefore you care about all of us.”

    He mumbled something about how she was looking too deep into it, but decided it was just easier not to argue and left for class.

    The drive home was quiet as it was only Sanji and himself and he didn’t have the energy to argue as he normally would. Plus Sanji was too focused on getting home to make sure Nami was okay after she texted them that she went home with Luffy.

    The moment the two of them were home he was up the stairs to see about Nami leaving Zoro to hear what happened from Luffy who was currently sitting on the couch watching a showing Zoro didn’t know.

    “Hey,” he said to the black-haired boy who responded with a smile. “So, you okay?”

    “Why wouldn’t I be?”

    Zoro shrugged, “I don’t know. Did you talk to Nami?”

    Luffy nodded.

    “How did it go?”

    “She told me some stuff, then kissed me.”

    He looked towards Luffy. “She what?”

    “She talked about some stuff.”

    “After that.”

    “She kissed me then pushed me out of her room.”

    Silence filled the space between them before Zoro laughed and looked at Luffy. “I would ask you if I can tell shit-brows, but I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

    “Zoro,” Luffy said surprised, “you can think.” 

    “More than you can.”

    Then both of them were laughing. Sanji came from upstairs a few moments later with a questioning look on his face but didn’t care to ask either what they were laughing about. “Well it seems that Nami isn't going to be coming down for dinner so I’m going to make her some soup,” Sanji said heading for the kitchen.

    “What about us?” Zoro asked already knowing it was on Luffy’s mind.

    “You two shit heads can make your own food.”

    “What did you call me?” Zoro asked standing up prepared the fight the blonde.

    “You heard me.”

  


    The two of them looked at the box as Luffy came up to ask why all the lights went off. When he came behind them and saw the smoke coming from it. Luffy started laughing stopping after being threatened by both Zoro and Sanji.

    “I’ll go tell Nami,” Luffy said starting towards the stairs. Only to be stopped by Sanji.

    “Don’t tell Nami, she needs to sleep.”

    So Luffy went to sit down on the couch and wait for one of them to fix the breaker. 

    “Cause that isn’t going to backfire,” Zoro said.

    And another fight between the two started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again sorry it wasn't great and for not posting until today. A lot can happen in a month, like car accidents, changing jobs, and moving.


	10. Chapter 10

    She had the dream again, only this time the boy did have a face a all too familiar face with that all too familiar smile that always pulled her from the darkness with his light.

    “NAMI!” The boy by the river yelled bringing her from her dream into reality and the realization that it wasn’t just the boy in her dream but the boy currently next to her bed who had decided to yell.

    She blinked twice before turning her head to look at him. “Luffy,” she mumbled, “it’s six in the morning, why are you awake?”

    He tilted his head in confusion before bursting out into loud, obnoxious fits of laughter. She waited until he calmed down to ask again. He again started laughing, “Sanji and Zoro started fighting last night and knocked out the power and then Sanji wouldn’t let me wake you up to tell you because you needed your beauty rest and so no one told you that your clock is off.”

    She glanced at her clock and started at the flashing 5:02 and growled, “So what time is it?”

    “8:30.”

    “Why didn’t you wake me up sooner?” She yelled throwing her covers off the bed and running to her closet for clothes.

    “Well yesterday when Sanji came home you told him that you weren’t feeling well again so he thought it was best if you just stay home again and stood guard outside of your room until the very last minute.”

    She stopped, “So Sanji and Zoro left already?”

    Luffy shook his head frantically almost, “No, Sanji thought it would be a good idea for him to stay home to take care of you so he told me and Zoro to go to school but Zoro said that he didn’t feel like going to school and I can’t drive.” His smile was once again wide on his face, “So all of us decided to stay home.”

    She turned to him, “Then why didn’t you mention that first?”

    “I was going to but you jumped up before I could.”

    She glared at him as he jumped up off the floor walking up to her with that still too wide smile on his face. When he only stood a few feet in front of her he stopped and grabbed her arms pulling her down slightly to place a kiss on her forehead.

    “Sanji has breakfast ready downstairs. He wanted to let you sleep a little longer but I was really hungry.” Then he was gone running down the stairs leaving her confused and slightly embarrassed. 

    She closed her door opting to get dressed before going to breakfast in hopes that by then her red cheeks would return to their normal color. Pulling out a striped shirt and a pair of orange shorts she quickly got dressed still not daring to look in the mirror already knowing she would be disappointed in what she saw. When she was done she pulled her hair up into a short ponytail and opened her door to see Luffy with his hand hovering over the doorknob.

    He smiled which caused a small smile to start on her own as well as pink to return to her cheeks. Just as he opened his mouth to speak another voice filled the empty space. “Luffy I told you to leave Nami alone! So you better not be going into her room!” She almost laughed as Sanji reached the top of the stairs and saw she was already awake and in normal Sanji fashion turned into a different person “Nami~ I was just about to bring you breakfast~”

    “It’s fine Sanji, I can eat downstairs.”

    He swooned and Luffy laughed and she smiled as if everything was normal as if nothing yesterday happened. And in normal Luffy fashion he was off down the stairs towards the food ready to eat anything and everything with Sanji close behind yelling at him about not eating all the food. 

    Nami stayed behind a moment before making her way downstairs at a pace she doubt anyone else in this house could go and arrived just in time to see Luffy vacuum the largest stack of pancakes she had even seen knowing it was probably his second plate. She looked over at Zoro who was also shoving a stack of pancakes into his mouth. Sanji beckoned her to her seat where a plate sat with two pancakes, two pieces of bacon, and an already peeled orange sat with syrup on the side just how she liked it. 

The meal, as any meal eaten with all four of them around a table, wasn’t quiet. Luffy would start stories with food in his mouth making it impossible to know what he was saying only for him to swallow and start laughing about a joke none of them knew. But Zoro would always start laughing along and so would she and ever so often Sanji would laugh if he couldn’t hold it in. 

By the end of breakfast Nami had eaten five pancakes which was ten times what she had been eating, Zoro and Sanji had finished quadruple that with it ending up being a competition between them, and no one could ever compare to Luffy who had eaten nearly sixty pancakes and still complained that there weren’t more when breakfast was done.

After the table was cleared Sanji decided he didn’t want to have to replace anymore dishes and so started the cleaning process by himself, not that anyone stopped him. Zoro went up stairs most likely to take a nap leaving Nami and Luffy alone in the living room.

“Luffy she said once she heard the door close upstairs, “about yesterday…”

He looked at her, “What about yesterday?”

She shrugged, honestly not knowing where to start, “I, I guess the kiss. W-what did it mean to you?”

And for once Luffy wasn’t able to answer.

“I-I mean, does that change our relationship? And if it does how?”

“I don’t know, do you want things to change?”

And she knew everything that question meant to her even if he didn’t. “Yes, I would very much like that.”

And he smiled which caused her to smile. He laughed, “You’ve been smiling more than usual.”

She shrugged before intertwining their hands together and placing a kiss on his lips much as she had yesterday, only this time it wasn’t quite just the two of them which was made very clear when a plate shattered on the ground from the dining room doorway.

Both turned to look and saw Sanji standing there, eyes wide in disbelief. 


	11. Chapter 11

“Sanji,” Nami started only to be stopped when the blonde turned around and stepped back into the kitchen. She glanced at Luffy to see he was watching the doorway and for a moment she thought he was questioning whether he should follow his friend or give him space.

But this was Luffy, so of course he entered the kitchen leaving her alone for only a moment. Luff was the first to leave the kitchen followed shortly by Sanji who seemed furious at the boy. “Don’t enter the kitchen!” Sanji yelled stopping just short of the doorway. He caught her eyes and the anger faded for a moment before he turned away.

“Sanji,” she repeated, only to be silenced by his hand going up to stop her.

“Don’t, just give me a while.”

She nodded, even though he couldn’t see her. Luffy was standing next to her once again, this time she didn’t think he would attempt to enter the kitchen, maybe not even for the rest of the night. “Sanji sure is mad,” he standed so as-a-matter-of-factly that she couldn’t help but laugh.

“What?” He asked, but she couldn’t answer only wave at the air. “What?” He repeated, worry starting to edge it’s way on his face. “Nami? Are you okay?”

“Fine Luffy,” she forced out. 

“Oh, good,” and then he started to laugh and her heart swelled as he did so.

When she finally stopped she watched him, Luffy of course was still laughing even though he didn’t know why. “Why don’t we go for a walk?” She offered giving the kitchen doorway one last look.

Then he was done, but his smile was still there, “Okay,” and he was gone, upstairs to grab his jacket as well as her’s hopefully. 

He stomped down the stairs, his jacket swaying over his shoulder and her jacket clutched tightly in his hand. His smile grew, if that was even possible, as he handed her the checkered coat she was so proud of. She silently thanked him pulling it on even though she didn’t really think she would need it.

They walked next to each other to the end of the driveway when Luffy turned at the call of his name. She turned to see as well only to see Zoro poking his head through the window.

“You forgot something idiot,” he yelled throwing whatever it was at the black haired boy. Nami attempted to see what he threw, but Luffy quickly shoved it into his pant’s pocket and waved in thanks to Zoro who only nodded before closing the window and the curtains.

They started on their walk again, the streets quiet thanks to the fact that it was a weekday and most people worked or had school. 

“What did he throw?” She asked when the curiosity became too much for her, which was about five minutes after the ordeal.

“Nothing.”

“Tell me.”

He shook his head, “It’s… between me and Zoro.”

She looked at him, expecting a huge grin, but unfortunately that wasn’t what was there. She sighed, “Okay, but I want to know sooner or later, preferably sooner especially if it involves house money.”

He grinned now, “Of course.”

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Nami dared to look at him again. He was grinning, hands in his pockets like always. “H-hey Luffy?”

“Yeah Nami?”

“Can...C-can you hold my hand?”

He grinned, reaching out to her. She slipped her fingers between his and he tightened his grip which caused her to jump slightly, not that he seemed to care as he continued to smile at her.

When they started walking again moments later she couldn’t help smiling almost as wide as Luffy. For the first time in a long time she wanted someone to see her if only to see that someone did love her and found her to be more important than anyone else.

“Hey Nami,” Luffy started when the silence became too much for him, “if you had the chance to live with your sister again, would you leave?”

She looked at him, “I don’t know, why?”

He shrugged.

“Luffy… are your brothers wanting you to move in with them?”

He didn’t answer.

“Are you thinking about it?”

Again he didn’t answer.

“Answer me!” she yelled, stopping completely.

He refused to look at her. “I don’t know. I don’t want to move.”

“Then don’t!”

“But what if they need me?”

She couldn’t answer him because she knew if she did she would be selfish, insist that he stay with her even if they did. 

“It would be for long, only a few weeks during Christmas then I would be back. Besides, isn’t your sister suppose to be visiting you this year?”

He was right, her sister was.

“And Zoro would still be there. Sanji said he would go home for a while but would be back after a week.”

“Why are you telling me this?” She asked.

He pulled her against his chest, “Because you’re crying.”

Now she felt it. 

“I just wanted to ask you what you wanted me to do.”

“Haven’t you already made your decision?”

He shook his head, “I want to know what you think.”

“Why?”

“Shouldn’t you already know that?” He laughed, “you’re important to me.”


	12. Chapter 12

Nami stood next to her sister outside of the oddly colored house. Painted red in one part with poorly drawn people? Another was painted green. Another bright blue with swirls of black and white and purple and pink and yellow taking over the bottom. And the last just plain and simple white. 

“Are you sure about this?” Nojiko asked glancing at the yard that, like the house, was a patchwork of long, short, and foresty length grass and weeds. “You could always stay where we are now… It’s not that big of a deal I mean you are only 16 you don’t have to be independent just yet.”

“No, this is where I want to be. Besides, it can’t be that bad.” Just as she said that the front door burst open and a boy with black hair ran out laughing and clutching a turkey leg in each hand, behind him a blonde chased after him yelling about how that was for the new roommate. Nami could see a green haired boy sitting in a chair laughing at them along with a man who she almost mistook for a skeleton.

She looked at Nojiko and shrugged, “Maybe we got the wrong house?”

Nojiko just shook her head and walked up to the door leaving her to watch as the blonde finally caught the black haired boy with a quick kick to the back of the head. Nami watched for a moment wondering if that was too harsh of a punishment but the boy sat up, still laughing as he did before.

The blonde turned away from him, back towards the house but stopped when he met Nami’s eyes. Then he was in front of her, as if he didn’t have half a block to make it to her. “Hello~” He sung, his eyes filled with hearts, “And who might you be~”

“I-I’m Nami, I’m your new roommate?” She said almost as if it were a question.

The blond twirled, “Wonderful! A beautiful woman!”

She smiled awkwardly at his statement and his reaction. “Hi! I’m Luffy,” the black haired boy said, somehow standing next to the blonde who was still twirling and coeing.

“Hi.”

He smiled at her. She forced a smile back. Then he started to laugh, “You’re strange.”

Her smile fell, replaced by a frown and a glare, “I don’t want to hear that from someone who lives in that house!”

He tilted his head, “But don’t you live there now?”

She couldn’t answer that.

“Nami, this man needs you to sign some papers,” Nojiko yelled from house. The blonde now twirled towards Nojiko, talking about how lucky he was to meet two beauties in one day.

“Okay,” she yelled back, happy to have an out of this conversation.

The Luffy just waved as she walked away. She expected the inside to be like the outside, chaos, and she was right. The house had paint thrown on the walls as if they just used the leftover paint from outside the cover the walls. Nothing was necessarily messy, but it wasn’t clean and the room wasn’t big, especially with the towering man with the afro.

“Hohoho,” he said when she entered the house. “Welcome, I’m Brook, and you must be Nami!”

She nodded nervously. He didn’t just tower over her, his presence with his too thin body and huge afro terrified her to a certain extent. She was so focused on his appearance she didn’t hear what he said after that, but by the way that Luffy started laughing she thought maybe he told a joke. (And the way everyone else groan she was sure it wasn’t very good.) 

“Well Ms. Nami, welcome to your new home. Please, let me show you to your room,” he said walking towards the stairs and completely ignoring the bags outside. 

She looked over at them for a moment and opened her mouth to say something only to have the blonde run out the door yelling that he would get it. She smiled, liking that he would do that.

Brook lead her up the stairs and down the hall pointing out what each room is, stopping only at the bathroom to show her inside. She was surprised by how clean it was, but it died when she saw the room next to it marked Luffy and Zoro. Even through the crack of the open door she saw the mess, clothes thrown wherever, exercise equipment covered half the room and food scraps the other.

“That’s disgusting!” She yelled.

Brook stopped and turned towards her, “That’s rude to say about me.”

“I was talking about that room!”

He looked towards the room as well and just shrugged, turning back to his tour. “And this is your room,” he said opening the door across from the mess.”

She looked inside, other than the bed, dust and cobwebs the room was completely empty. She looked around, the window was facing the back yard where the weeds were even worse than the front. “So I’m guessing it’s okay to paint this room right?”

Brook laughed and nodded, “Of course hohoho!”

“Okay, thank you.”

He laughed again, leaving the room and heading down stairs leaving the two sisters alone.

“Are you sure this is okay?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“I mean, you live with three boys who obviously don’t have self control and you don’t really know anything about them.”

“Yes, but they don’t know anything about me either. Besides, I can take care of myself.”

Nojiko just stared at her sister, “But you don’t have to.”

“But I want to.”

Nojiko nodded just as the door slammed open and the blonde walked in carrying half of her things followed shortly by the green haired boy who mumbled about how it’s not his stuff and Luffy who was laughing as if he had heard the funniest joke ever.

“Okay,” Nami said, placing her hands on her hips, “Put everything in organized piles, clothes go next to the closet, trinkets and picutres by the window, and furniture by the door and against the wall.”

Nojiko smiled, “I better be heading back.” 

“Don’t forget to call at least once a week and make sure you take care of yourself,” Nami said, giving her sister one last hug.

“I should be the one telling you that.”

Nami waved as she left and went back into the house where Luffy and the green haired boy were watching tv and the blonde could be heard from the kitchen. “You know I can’t keep callling you the green haired one in my head,” she said outloud.

He almost growled at her, “Zoro.”

She frowned, not quiet happy with that response but nodded anyways.

“And I’m your knight in shining armor, Sanji~” The blonde yelled as he twirled out of the kitchen.

She nodded, “I’m Nami.”

And with that Luffy jumped up, “Since we all know each other now let’s take a picutre!”   
“Why would we do that?” Zoro asked, his frown deepening.

“To remember today of course!”

Somehow he got them all outside, a camera Nami was sure was older than her was placed at the end of the driveway. They stood together, now roommates, and took a picture. Luffy began jumping around the moment it was done.

“Now each of us needs one,” he announced proudly.

“I wouldn’t mind a picutre of the two of us~” Sanji announced, “but why do I need a picture with you and moss head?”

“What did you say swirling brows?”

Nami stepped back as the two began throwing insults and threats at each other.

“Because,” Luffy said, drawing their attention back to him, “Now we’re family. And family has pictures of each other.”

She blinked in disbelieve. They had just met, they weren’t family, and yet as she looked at this boy all she could think was that she couldn’t argue with him as he laughed and as Sanji and Zoro smiled at him in acceptance of his answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I realize that it may be confusing on how the three of them live together while Usopp and Chopper don't and I will go ahead an explain that in the next couple of chapters along with some background on all their situations as well as some introduction of some less important characters.


	13. Chapter 13

Christmas came sooner than she wanted. Much too soon. And when it did Luffy left, he was the first to leave. He left early in the morning with only a quick goodbye to all of them, mostly because his grandpa was sitting outside honking the horn. 

Nami of course expected to at least get a kiss, but all she got was a quick hug. Sanji didn’t even come to say goodbye and she knew better than anyone how much that hurt him.

“He’ll get over it,” she had told him one day as he moped around the house, at that point Sanji had been ignoring the black haired boy for over a day. Unfortunately he didn’t.

Luffy looked towards Zoro before he left and actually gave him a better hug than he had her, his maybe girlfriend.

“Sometimes I think you might actually like him more than me,” she said as she walked him to his grandpa’s car, who was now threatening to beat the shit out of him if he didn’t hurry up. 

Luffy of course laughed at her as if it was the funniest thing he had ever heard. 

“Make sure to text me every day,” she said.

And he had nodded as he threw his bag into the back.

“And call at least once every other day if not every day.”

Again he nodded.

“And don’t forget to charge your phone.”

Another nod.

“You did pack your charger, right?”

“Yep,” he said smiling at her. 

She smiled back at him, “Only a few weeks.”

He laughed.

“I’ll see you when you get back.”

“When I get back,” he repeated and for not the first time she wanted to grab him so he couldn’t leave.

And then he was gone. She watched as the car raced down the street, listened as it turned the corner before it disappeared as she felt completely alone.

“He’ll be back in a few weeks, there’s no reason to worry.”

She turned and saw Zoro was still standing there. She smiled, “I’m not worried, I know he’ll come back.”

“He always does,” Zoro said. 

And her smile widened, and of course in classic Zoro fashion he ignored her and walked back inside without her. She stared down the street for another moment before also going back inside.

Zoro had laid out on the couch, already asleep as the horrible movie Luffy had put on last night continued where they had stopped it the night before. She sighed and started up the stairs, agreeing with Zoro that it was too early not to go back to sleep.

As she reached the top she saw Sanji leaning on the wall outside her door. “Hey,” she said.

He turned to her, “Hey,” he said in an unusually calm voice. “Can we talk?”

And she nodded because this was the first time he had attempted to have a normal conversation with her since he had seen her kiss Luffy in the living room. She opened her door and left it for him to follow.

She sat down at the desk chair, he on the bed. She stared at him, he at the floor.

“What did you want to talk about?” She asked when the silence became too much for her to bear.

“About Luffy.”

She blinked, “What about him?”

It felt like forever before he answered. “Why him?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why did you choose him? What about him is so great?”

She thought for a moment and answered as truthfully as she could. “He’s kind, and too honest for his own good. He’s an idiot, but sometimes I think he knows everything in the whole world. And he has this pull to him, the kind of pull that once you feel it you can’t stop it, he could pull you around the whole world and you couldn’t help it.”

He refused to look at her.

“But you already knew all that didn’t you?”

He didn’t answer.

She nodded, “You know sometimes I think of ending it all.” Now he looked at her, but she couldn’t meet his gaze. “Sometimes I think it would be easiest, just to stop existing, to die like those girls tell me to do. It honestly feels like drowning.” And now she looked at him, not sure of what else she could do. “And in those moments he’s there, pulling me back to him convincing me that there’s nothing wrong with existing.”

He looked at her, and for a moment she thought he would jump up and run to her, check her for marks or signs that she was hurting herself but he never did. “Nami?” He muttered.

“Sanji, I know that what you saw must have surprised you, but you can’t keep ignoring Luffy, I don’t think he can handle it much longer.”

He continued to stare at her before looking back at the ground. “I love you you know.”

“You love every girl.”

“Not every girl is you,” he whispered to where she almost couldn’t hear him.

She smiled sadly, “I’m sorry Sanji, I can’t return your feelings.”

“I know.”

“Just please, talk to Luffy.”

He stood up and walked to the door, “I’m not mad at Luffy. I’m angry that I didn’t tell you first, that he was the one you fell for.”

And she laughed, not because of what he said, even though the way he looked at her she was sure he thought it was. “Sorry, I was just thinking that I probably felt this way the first day we met.”

And now he laughed, “Love at first sight.”

Nami hummed, “Maybe not at first sight, maybe at first photo.”

She looked at the picture of all of them. The first day all of them met, the first day she knew this was home.

He stepped back the threshold, “I wish it had been me.” Then he was gone, back to his room.

She moved to the bed, climbing under the blankets just as her phone chimed. She looked at the text, Luffy. Sitting up she opened the message  _ ‘SANJI TEXTED ME’ _ in all caps. 

_ ‘Good for you.’ _

She plugged her phone in, curled more under the blankets and went to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

The next day she started packing and she knew that Sanji would be packing too. Tomorrow she would leave to stay with her mom, stepdad and sister, and Sanji would be leaving to stay a week with his dad.

She walked down stairs to grab one of her books of the bookshelf and saw Zoro was still sitting there. “Are you sure you’ll be fine on your own?”

He didn’t look at her, “I’m not a child, I can take care of myself.”

“Yeah, we just have to worry about you leaving the house and not being able to find your way back,” And of course Sanji choose this moment to come down stairs as well. “Do we need to get a collar made for you so anyone who finds you will know what number to call?”

“What was that shitbrows?” Zoro snapped, standing up and as usual ready to fight.

“Didn’t you hear me mosshead?”

Nami rolled her eyes stepping between them, “Sanji don’t you still have some things to pack.”

He swooned, back to normal, and went up stairs to pack.

“I see he’s back to normal,” Zoro said the moment the man left.

She nodded, “Yeah, he even texted Luffy.”

The green haired man hummed before sitting back down.

“But seriously, are you going to be okay? I mean if you leave the house?” She asked.

He growled, “Of course, I have GPS.”

“Okay, but you have to charge your phone, and remember your keys.” She rolled her eyes after he did. “Sometimes it’s hard to tell which one of you is worse. You? Or Luffy?”

He didn’t say anything out right, but she swore she heard him mutter something about at least they didn’t spend six hours getting ready in the morning. She didn’t answer, only another eye roll as she went back upstairs to start packing.

By the end of the day she was ready, a suitcase, two bags, and a pillow later. 

“I don’t know why you packed so much,” she turned to see Zoro standing there, probably going to his room for a quick workout before bed. “You’ll only be gone a week.”

She again rolled her eyes, “Unlike you and Luffy who don’t pack anything, I believe in being prepared.”

He sighed, but left her to it as he carried on with his day. Sanji came before bed to wish her good night and of course she talked to Luffy who couldn’t stop talking.

“Today Ace and Sabo took me out to eat,” he had started before even saying hello. “Of course none of us had any money so we just left.”

“Luffy that’s not okay.”

“But we left a note saying we would pay them later.”

“Luffy…”

“Oh, and then we went for a hike up the mountains and I almost fell of the cliff, but Ace and Sabo saved me,” he laughed.

She smiled, “I’m glad you had fun.”

Another laugh, “Grandpa also said that we need to train if we’re ever going to join the marines and of course we told him that we didn’t want to but he chased us around for hours. It was so much fun Nami!”

“That’s good.”

“What did you do?”

She sighed, “Just packed and made sure that Zoro wouldn’t have to leave the house too much before I got back.”

Luffy laughed again, “He’s not very bright, getting lost all the time.”

“You’re one to talk.”

“I’ll have you know I’m very smart.”

It was her turn to laugh, “Of course, but only with certain things, everything else it’s like it’s in one ear out the other.”

They both laughed. And then there was silence.

“I miss you,” she said finally.

“I miss you too.”

She sighed again, “It feels like it’s been forever, not just a day.”

He laughed, but then again he was always laughing. “I’ll be home soon, and you’re going to see your family tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” she laughed, a little sad that was his answer. “I guess you’re right.”

“Don’t worry Nami, you’re an important person to me. If you ever need me I’ll be there.”

“Promise?” She asked, closing her eyes as she waited for the answer.

“Promise.” He sounded so sure and so serious she couldn’t help but believe him.

She breathed out, she didn’t even remember holding her breath. “Goodnight Luffy.”

“Goodnight Nami,” And she could hear the smile in his voice so she smiled too.

The next morning she woke up bright and early. Down stairs Sanji already had breakfast made, he would leave before her, but wanted to make sure she ate something good for her.

Of course Zoro asked where his food was.

“You can eat crap for all I care,” yet he still placed a plate in front of him, four sunny side up eggs with seven pieces of bacon and five pieces of toast. 

She looked down at her own plate, scrambled eggs, a piece of toast, two pieces of bacon and a cup of fresh orange juice on the side.

“Why does she get orange juice?”

Sanji of course just had to respond, “Because she’s a beautiful woman and all you are is a meathead.”

A fight broke out, hopefully the only one before they left.

While Zoro did the dishes Sanji left, a bag slung over his shoulder and a train ticket in hand.

“I told you my sister could drop you off,” She said as he put the bag in the back of the taxi.

“I’ll be fine,” he said, “But thank you for worry about me my beautiful Nami~” He said and she tried to ignore how forced it almost sounded.

“See you in a week,” she waved.

“A week.”

Then he was gone, just like Luffy.

She went back inside. Zoro was already sitting on the couch, she joined him and the two sat in silence as a movie played until her sister knocked at the door. To which Nami stood up and opened the door.

“Mom’s excited to see you,” was the first thing Nojiko said after giving her a hug.

“I’m excited to see her.” She grabbed the suitcase, her sister the two bags and the pillow. “Thanks for the help Zoro.” He grunted in response. 

Once all of her stuff was packed into the car she went inside one more time. “Make sure the house doesn’t burn down okay?”

He nodded, eyes never leaving the t.v. “See you in a week.”

“Yeah, see you in a week.”


	15. Chapter 15

A week came a went. Nami was home before she knew it and she couldn’t believe how happy she was to be back. Even how happy she was to hear Zoro and Sanji fighting. She loved seeing her mom, loved spending time with her sister, and listening to her stepdad as he told her about the town, but that wasn’t home anymore, this was.

She had arrived before Sanji, as planned, Zoro was sitting in the same spot as the day she left. “Did you even move?”

“Of course I did, I’m not dead.”

She rolled her eyes but sat down next to him before even taking her stuff back to her room. “What are you watching?”

He shrugged, “It was in the recommended list, but I think Luffy uses this too much.”

She nodded, knowing that it was something that Luffy would enjoy watching, given the chance.

And of course then she was reminded of Luffy, who had slowly become a rare person for her to talk to. Yes, she still talked to him every day, every day she would call and he would talk to her for a few minutes, not like before where he would spend an hour just telling her what he had for breakfast.

No, now their conversations were quick, to the point. “How was your day?” She would ask.

“Good! Yours?”

“Good.”

“...”

“Luffy?”

“Sorry Nami, I have to go.”

“Oh, okay, well I miss you.”

Another pause, “I miss you too.”

Then he would be gone and she would be left staring at her phone. She still texted him and he always responded, but most time that was it, almost like he didn’t have interest in her anymore.

“Have you talked to Luffy much?” She asked Zoro as the movie ended.

He didn’t look at her, “A little.”

“Was he acting out the ordinary?”

“Luffy and ordinary don’t mix well.”

“I mean for him,” she said, trying to get it through his head about how serious this was to her.

He shook his head, “Same old Luffy.”

“So he doesn’t hurry through your calls.”

“Me and Luffy don’t talk over the phone, only text.”

She stared at him, “Why?”

“Because that’s all we need.”

She blinked, “You two are some of the weirdest people I know.”

“How so?”

“I mean, it’s like you two share the same brain-”

“Nami, I don’t like you the way Luffy does.” He interrupted making clear by the way he looked at her it was true.

“I know, but you two will just look at one another and know exactly what the other is thinking.”

“We’ve known each other for a long time.”

“How long?”

He glared at her, “Ask Luffy these questions.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to answer them.”

She rolled her eyes, “Sometimes I feel like he doesn’t look at me as more than a friend. Then other times he looks at me and it makes me feel like I’m the other person in the whole world.”

“Luffy likes you.”

“How do you know?”

He rolled his eyes and glanced at her from the corner of his eye, “You said it yourself, we know what the other thinks and he likes you, more than as a friend or as a family member.”

Then he stood up and started for the stairs. “Thanks Zoro!” She yelled after him.

He raised a hand as he headed for his room, most likely to take a nap. Just as his door shut the front door opened and Sanji twirled in, excited to see Nami.

“Have you missed me my dearest Nami~”

She smiled, “Of course, I hope you have a good vacation.”

“Not nearly as good as it would have been if you had been there~”

She laughed as he dance, obviously fully recovered from before.

The house returned to normal, at least as normal as it could be without Luffy there. Sanji and Zoro started fighting the moment they saw each other, Nami tried to break it up, but it was missing the signature Luffy laugh that filled the house. All of them felt it and their fight was a little less harmful.

“When’s the moron suppose to be back?” Sanji asked while he cooked dinner.

Nami looked towards Zoro, “Next Saturday.”

She looked at the table, “Saturday?”

“Yeah, he told me this morning.”

She looked at her phone, no missed calls, no new messages, “He didn’t tell me…”

Zoro shrugged and Sanji gave her a sympathetic look.

She stood up, “I’ll just have to call him really quick and see what’s going on.”

She left the room, headed up the stairs and closed her door behind her. When she was finally alone she pulled up the contact information and press the dial button.

It rang, rang, rang, and then went to voicemail. She hung up and looked down at the phone. Not once had he ever let his phone go to voicemail, not once.


	16. Chapter 16

Two weeks. Not a single text, call, nothing for two weeks and counting. She glanced at her phone for the hundredth time that day hoping to see some kind of message from him but of course there was nothing. 

“Still nothing?” She looked up, Ms. Nico was staring down at her, a smile hiding the pity she felt for Nami.

She glanced back down at her phone, scrolling through the messages she sent him, “No.”

Ms. Nico nodded before continuing down the row of desks. “How come she can have her phone but we can’t?” She cringed at the sound.

“Nami has finished her test. Have you?” Silence followed and she didn’t have to look to know that Ms. Nico was smiling that too sweet smile.

“Nami,” she looked to see Sanji staring at her, pity (god how she hated it) shining in his eyes. “If he hasn’t contacted you yet I don’t think he will.”

She wanted to snap at him, maybe even scream that he didn’t know what he was talking about. But she didn’t, partly because she knew he was just trying to help, mostly because she didn’t have the energy.

The bell rang moments later. “Everyone please turn in your test, even if they aren’t done.”

Most groaned as they stood up to hand their test into the sadistically smiling teacher. Nami stood up and ran out of the room before Sanji could say anything, before Ms. Nico could try to get her to talk to that counselor. 

“Nami!” She didn’t need to turn to know it was ViVi calling her name. “Wait up!”

She didn’t want to wait, she wanted to run.

“Look,” the bluette started, “I know you miss Luffy, but you can’t keep acting like it’s the end of the world. He will be back.”

She bawled her hands into fists. 

“He would never leave you behind, I mean, this is Luffy we’re talking about.” Her knuckles turned white. “He will be back.”

“How do you know?” She snapped, facing her for what felt like the first time in two weeks. “All of you,” she could feel the tears starting to overflow, “You all say the same thing. ‘Don’t worry’, ‘he’ll be back’, ‘it’s Luffy, of course he’ll be back’. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel? I get my hopes up everytime someone says something thinking that you’re all right but then if he really is coming back why doesn’t anyone know when?”

“Nami-”

“No! I wait and I wait, I feel like all I do is wait but there isn’t an end. You tell me that he wouldn’t leave me behind, but isn’t that what he’s doing now?” The tears weren’t stopping, her makeup was definitely running and she could hear the whispers about her breaking down in the hallways but she didn’t care. Her breath of air was gone and she was drowning.

ViVi didn’t say anything and she took it as this was the end of their conversation. Nami left, everyone was staring at her but she didn’t care. 

The next thing she knew she was at the river. It was still as beautiful as she remember, the only difference was that the tree were not completely bare and yet as she sat down on the rock she swore she heard the leaves rustling. 

“Why hasn’t he come back?” She asked out loud looking down at the water as it rushed past her.

She sighed, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her head on them. She closed her eyes, lulled to sleep by the water.

“Nami,” her eyes snapped open and she turned to see the black haired boy she had been waiting for. 

“Luffy,” she said before running towards him. He laughed right up until she hit him on his head.

“Ow, what was that for?” He whined.

She glared at him, “For not coming back sooner.” And of course he laughed, muttering that he was sorry while rubbing the back of his head. “You didn’t even text me.”

“Yeah, sorry,” he started and she really wanted to hit him again, but as he raised his hands in defense she lowered her fist. “I really did mean to tell you.”

“You better have a good excuse.”

He laughed before walking over to the rock and sitting down. She joined him. “You see I decided I needed to get stronger so I can protect you.”

“Really?”

He nodded.

“Alright, so did you?”

Another nod, “Yeah, but then I met this girl, she’s really pretty, maybe even prettier than Nami.” She felt her heart stop and the fluttering of the leaves grew louder in her ear. “And she really liked me, and I really like her too.” She tried to get it to start, she tried to take a breath but nothing was working. “So I decided to stay.”

She looked at him, gasping, hoping that he would save her like he always did. “I just wanted to tell you before I left for good.” But this time he didn’t.

The sound of the leaves was drowning out everything else and the water felt so cold as she touched it and Luffy just kept smiling.

She wanted to scream for his help but the words wouldn’t come, he just kept smiling and she just kept drowning as the fluttering filled her mind and the water entered her lungs.

She gasped awake. Pulling herself from the river she shivered, it was so cold and painful that she wasn’t sure of what else to do other than just try to get out of the water. She pulled herself back onto the rock and before she knew it was sobbing. 

“Nami?” She couldn’t look, too cold and ashamed, but knew it was Sanji. “Nami! Why are you wet?” She couldn’t answer but she figured he already knew. He approached, picking her up and although she wanted to fight it she couldn’t. “We have to get you somewhere warm and out of these clothes.”

She shook her head, but he ignored her. She tried to push him away, but he didn’t seem to notice. She just wanted to stay there, stay there and freeze so at least she’ll die where she was once happy, but he didn’t allow it.

Sanji carried her to the nurse and even when the nurse asked him to leave he refused.

“Please,” she said with an almost awkward smile, “I have to assist her in getting out of those clothes and into something dry and I don’t think she’ll want you in here when I do.” And although he hesitated he did leave.

The nurse did remove her clothes for her, but Nami insisted drying and dressing herself once the process was done.

“Thank you,” Nami muttered behind the curtain.

“No need for thank yous,” the nurse said and Nami could tell she was smiling, “It’s my job.”

“I’ll be fine now,” she said stepping out from behind the curtain, dressed in a tracksuit with the school’s logo on it.

She frowned, “I’m afraid I’m going to have to call your parents so they can pick you up and take you home.”

“My parents are over a hundred miles away, so if it’s alright I think I’ll just take a bus.”

“Again, I can’t allow that,” the nurse said stepping in front of the door. “Is there anyone who can drive you home?”

Nami rolled her eyes but spoke anyways, “Roronoa Zoro or Vinsmoke Sanji.”

The nurse once again smiled and nodded, “Then I’ll call them in here to take you home.”

It wasn’t much work as Sanji was sitting outside, waiting rather impatient, and apparently he had texted both Zoro and ViVi who were standing not far from him.

“Nami!” ViVi yelled, running to give her a hug which she couldn’t bring herself to return. “I’m so glad you’re alright, I was so worried when you ran off like that.”

She caught Zoro’s eyes that reflected what she had hoped they would, distaste. “Zoro,” she said and he blinked. “Will you drive me home?”

He nodded.

“I’ll come with,” Sanji said.

“Me too,” Vivi yelled, finally letting her go.

She shook her head, “No, just Zoro.” They tried to argue, even went as far as following her all the way to the car arguing. “Enough,” she finally said, “I’m fine, I’m just going home to get some sleep and you two aren’t helping. Stay and finish the day. Tonight if you two want to worry you can.”

And although neither wanted to they both nodded and walked back inside.

“What were you doing?” She knew the question was coming, happy that it wasn’t ‘what happened?’

“I was by the river and I fell asleep, must have slipped.”

He growled, “Yeah right! Do you think this is some joke? You seriously could have died.”

“But I didn’t.”

“That’s not the point!”

She glanced at the road, “You took the wrong turn.”

“Who fucking cares!” He yelled and she jumped because he never yelled at her like that. 

“Why do you care!” She yelled back, not really sure of a reason why, only that she needed to scream and let out everything inside. “You always talk about how you don’t care so why is now any different!”

He slammed on the brakes, the car behind him laid on the horn but he didn’t care, only looked at her, that same look of distaste still there but now mixed with anger. “You could have died and you don’t seem to care.”

She stare at him. He was right, she was scared but it wasn’t of death, it was of being left, and as she came to agreement with that she smiled. “I guess you’re right.”


	17. Chapter 17

Silence. That’s what filled the car, what filled the house after they got home, what filled her room as she closed the door behind her. Silence, empty silence. And that’s what she heard, emptiness that was interrupted ever-so often by Zoro breaking something. She didn’t mind it though because in those moments of glass shattering her mind was pulled back.

She leaned against the door, not really sure if she was waiting for him to come and try to talk to her or for the silence to become permanent, endless.

Not for the first time since she got home, she glanced at her phone. Three missed calls, one from Sanji, two from her sister. Ten text messages, three from Sanji, three from ViVi, three from her sister, and one… one from Usopp. 

Nami laughed as she slide to the floor, the tears already building up. “Of course not,” she whispered. “He hasn’t contacted you in weeks. What makes you think today would be any different.”

She threw her phone onto the bed, not really caring what anyone else had to say to her already knowing that they all just wanted to know if she was okay. But she wasn’t, hasn’t been for a long time.

“Why did I even come here?” She asked herself. “What was the point? To prove that I could take care of myself? To prove that I’m strong?” She laughed, a sad broken laugh but a laugh nonetheless. “Look at me, I’m nothing. I’m exactly what everyone says I am, disgusting, dirty.”

Her head fell forwards before looking towards her desk. The pictures still there, but that’s not what she was looking at. It was in the drawer. Slowly she stood and walked towards the desk. She sat down and looked at the drawer. She almost always left it closed, too scared that she would someday open it and decide to do something that would most definitely not disappear.

The drawer slide open without too much effort. Inside the razor blade called to her telling her that it would most assuredly hurt worse than what she was feeling now. So she picked it up, to prove that there was worse pain, that what she felt now would fade.

It was cold between her fingers and for a moment she thought that this was a bad idea, that she should just put it down and forget about this moment. 

But she couldn’t. Her hands shook as she brought the blade down to her wrist. Her skin beautiful and unmarked then cut and bleeding. She let out a small cry with the first cut, her tears flowing freely now.

Yes, it hurt, but not more than her heart. So she did it again right underneath the first one. And another under than one. She did four in total before she couldn’t see through the tears and her hands were shaking so badly that she couldn’t determine where her wrist actually was.

She dropped the blade on the ground and she tried to pick it up again, but her hands were shaking and she was crying it was all too much. Too much, so much she couldn’t think straight. She patted the ground, but gave up when she realized that she was just getting blood everywhere. 

“I-I have to get cleaned up,” she said to herself standing back up and making her way to the bathroom.

But Zoro was standing outside her door. Zoro was standing outside her door and saw her crying, he saw her shaking, he saw the blood. 

For a moment she thought it was going to lose it, yell at her, tell her to get out, but he didn’t do any of that. Only took her by the wrist not covered in blood and dragged her to the bathroom.

He sat her down on the toilet before grabbing the first aid kit that she had placed in the bathroom because ‘I live in a house full of morons.’ “Who’s the moron now?” He muttered cleaning her wrist as best he could. It was still bleeding but he wrapped it anyways.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered, “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” He growled. 

She didn’t know, but that’s all she could think of to say as he finished what aid he could provide. 

He looked at her before shaking his head, “You’re an idiot for believing that this would help. You’re an idiot for not choosing that dumbass blonde over Luffy.”

She bowed her head. “I know.”

Silence again, always silence.

“How did you two meet?” This time she decided to break the silence.

He looked at her and rolled his eyes, still looking at her wrist and checking her other one just in case. “I thought I told you to ask him.”

“I never got the chance.”

“Now isn’t the time.”

“Bu-”

“Not the time,” he interrupted looking back up at her. “Besides, I think it’s time you go to sleep.”

“I’m not a child, I don’t have to go to bed.”

He looked at her, eyes narrowed into a glare. “Okay, so you can be awake and explain to Sanji and ViVi what happened to your wrist.” She winced at the thought. “Or you can you to bed and not have to face it till tomorrow if at all.”

She didn’t need to answer, he already knew what her decision was. He followed her to her bedroom, sat in the chair by her desk, even picked up the razor with a tissue before tucking it in his pocket, probably to throw away later. 

“You can leave now,” she said once she was under the covers.

He glared at her again, “Sorry, but after what’s happened today I can’t.”

She wanted to argue but knew better. Because he was right, she didn’t need to be left alone. “Then tell me how the two of you met.”

There was a period of silence and for a moment she thought he was ignoring her. “We met his first year of middle school. Luffy and his brothers were constantly moving around, going from one school to another and they ended up at different schools from him. 

“He was being picked on by some of these other kids and I had helped him.” Nami thought of what the two of them would have looked like and smiled. “He had smiled at he and asked to be friends. I told him no and just kept minding my own business.

“Well turns out those kids that were picking on him were pretty important, or at least their parents had some money that they put into the school and their story was a little different from what actually happened.” He paused and for a moment she didn’t think he would continue but he chucked then kept going. “The stupid monkey heard that I was going to be expelled and went right up to those kids and beat the crap out of them telling them that they better tell the truth or he was going to keep beating the crap out of them

“When I heard what happened I asked him why he would do that and do you know what he said?” She looked at him expectantly. “He said that no one messed with his friends. And from that day onwards the two of us have been best friends.”

She wanted to laugh just thinking about those two and knowing that that situation was the perfect way for them to become friends.

“Is he ever going to come back?” She finally asked.

Zoro was silent for a minute before, “If I know Luffy, and I’m pretty sure I do, he will. He’ll come back and act like no time passed. Probably with stupid souvenirs and too much food that he will most definitely eat within ten minutes of being home. And he’ll smile and tell stories like always.”

He stood up and walked to the door.

“Zoro,” she said stopping him. “Thank you.”

He closed the door because he was Zoro and he didn’t need ‘thank you’s.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to apologize for not updating for a long time. I was recently let go from my job and was pretty depressed about it, plus I've been working on a novel that I'm hoping I'll finish very soon. But here it see, the beginning of the end.

    Nami stayed in bed for the next three days, to the dissatisfaction of Zoro and Sanji who both attempted to get her to leave, but she couldn’t. Whether that be due to the embarrassment of the fact that they both knew what she had done, or the fear that she would attempt to do it again.

    She did leave once or twice a day to shower, never bathe, and use the bathroom. And three times a day Sanji would politely knock, wait about three minutes with no answer and enter, placing a plate of food on her desk and always taking the nearly untouched food from the previous meal away, most likely to cook a meal for himself and Zoro.

    Zoro only ever entered once, in all three days.  He looked at her, but she being to scared to make eye contact covered herself. “Get up, get dressed and go to school,” he said.

    She did, she got up and got dressed, but never made it too school opting to just lay back down and hide away from the world.

    It was on the night of the third day that she got the call. She answered it, more scared than ever. “H-Hello?”

    “Hello? Is this Nami?”

    “Y-yes,” she answered, unsure of who was on the other end. 

    A laugh was her answer before the person spoke again. “Sorry about that. I’m Ace, Luffy’s brother, I was just calling on behalf of my idiot brother. He broke his phone earlier and when he got the replacement he forgot to put your number in. Then when he finally did get your number he was too scared to call because he thought you would be angry.”

    She could hear Luffy in the background, demanding his phone and calling his brother a liar. 

    “So, I thought I’d give you a call and just let you know what was going on.”

    “Can I talk to him?” She asked, her voice shaking so badly she wasn’t even sure it came out right.

    There was a pause before a sure and the muffling of the phone being passed between the two.

    “...”

    “Nami?” She gasped at the sound, so familiar and yet so different. “Nami, you there?”

    She could feel the tears start to fall down her cheeks as she listened to him calling out to her before she finally found her voice. “You idiot,” she cried.

    “Ace wasn’t telling the whole truth,” he said, attempting to defend himself even though she really didn’t care. “I did break my phone, but I don’t know any of the numbers in my phone, not even Zoro’s!” She was still crying but she wanted to laugh at the fact that his not even was Zoro and not her. “And so I was trying to figure out how to get everyone’s number but didn’t know how. Then I remembered Brook and so I looked up his number and he gave me Zoro’s who then gave me yours and I was trying to call you but Ace took my phone before I could.”

    She didn’t say anything as he continued rambling on and on about his stupid phone.

    “Nami?”

    She laughed, it was weak and a little shaky, “You really are a complete and total idiot.”

    He laughed too.

    “How have you been?” She asked.

    “Good, I had to stay longer than I wanted to because Grandpa wanted all of us to train to be marines in the future, but I don’t want to be a marine. And when I told him that he tried to beat the crap out of me so I told him that Ace and Sabo didn’t want to be marines either and he chased the three of us until we couldn’t run anymore. We had to hid in the woods for days before he finally calmed down and even then we still had to go through intense training. I thought I was going to die!”

    She listened to him go on and on, happy to just hear his voice.

    “Nami?” He asked when he finally stopped with his story. “Are you still listening?”

    “Yeah,” she said, “I’m just really happy to hear your voice.”

    He laughed, “I’m happy to hear your voice too. What have you been doing? I hope you and Zoro have been getting along.”

    She thought for a moment. She needed a way to tell him what happened, “I’ve just really missed you.”

    “How has school been?”

    “Oh,” she said, still thinking, “I… I haven’t gone in the last couple of days.”

    He was silent, “Why not?”

    “...”

    “Nami, you promised to tell me if anything happened.”

    She laughed softly, “I know that.”

    “So what happened?”

    “Just come home quickly okay?” She didn’t wait for him to reply before she hung up.

    She placed the phone on the side table, Luffy tried to call back but this time she didn’t answer. Instead she walked down stairs and was quickly greeted by an ecstatic Sanji, happy to see her down stairs, and a questioning stare from Zoro. Sanji instantly ran to the kitchen to start cooking something for her to eat, leaving Zoro and Nami alone.

    “Luffy called,” she said.

    Zoro nodded, “Yeah, he did.”

“Did he tell you when he would be back?”

Zoro nodded again, “Yeah, tomorrow. Did he not tell you?”

She shrugged, “He was too busy telling me what was going on there.”

“Did you tell him?”

She shook her head. “Do you think he’ll notice?”

He nodded. “He will, but the idiot probably won’t completely understand what it means.”

She laughed, a real, nearly happy laugh, “You’re probably right.”

Zoro chuckled along with her before patting the seat next to him. “Might as well watch some tv while Sanji cooks.”

She sat down and watched Forged in Fire with him until Sanji announced that dinner was ready. The three sat down for their first and last meal with just them. Sanji and Zoro argued as usual, she laughed once or twice and at the end of it all Zoro did the dishes, only breaking one or two, and she wiped the counters.

That night the three of them all went to bed, tomorrow she would be able to see him again. Tomorrow their lives would go back to what it used to be, at least she could hope they would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's not the best reason for Luffy to stop contacting Nami, but seemed the most Luffy-like of all the options I came up with so I stand by it.


	19. Chapter 19

The next day Nami woke up incredibly early. Unsure whether it was from the excitement of seeing Luffy again, or if it was from the nervousness of seeing him again she was up before the sun rose.

She walked down stairs, pretty sure she was the only one up until she got the bottom and found that Sanji was already cooking in preparation for Luffy’s return. And Zoro was coming back from a morning run, and was return to the room he shared with Luffy to finish his morning workout.

“Morning,” Zoro said as they passed on the stairs.

“Morning,” she returned.

Sanji greeted her as away with hearts in his eyes and a twirl in his step. “I’m sorry Nami~ If I had known you would be up so early I would have prepared breakfast sooner~”

“It’s fine,” she said, instead opening the fridge and filled a glass with the freshly squeezed orange juice. “Right now all I really need is some orange juice.”

She left the kitchen to Sanji who almost instantly began to prepare breakfast even though she really didn’t need anything at that moment. She sat down on the couch and turned the tv on, opting to watch cartoon reruns. At some point Zoro joined her, and was apparently disappointed in her choice of tv as he glared at both her and the television screen.

“Is there nothing else on?” He asked after two or three episodes.

“Nothing worth watching,” she said, grinning as he glared at her.

He tched, but didn’t say anything as the old cartoons continued to play. “Luffy should be back soon.” She glanced at him. “He said he would be back before breakfast, but knowing him he’ll probably get lost on his way here.”

“Luffy isn’t you,” Sanji yelled from the kitchen, setting off Zoro who got up to pick a fight with the cook to be.

And once again Nami was alone, consumed in her thoughts she messed with the bandages, freshly wrapped around her wrists even though she swore she didn’t need them anymore Sanji still made sure she wrapped them a few episodes ago.

As the two argued in the kitchen, breaking at least five or six plates and cups, the door swung open, letting the rising sun flood into the house. She froze, slowly turning to look at who ever just walked into their home.

“Luffy,” she breathed as he stepped further into the house.

His trademark smile absorbed his face when he saw her. “Nami!”

She leapt up, running to him and wrapping her arms around his neck, “Luffy!”

He laughed, wrapping his arms around her and swinging her around, barely missing the door and walls as he did so. When he finally stopped he pulled away from her. “Nami, I’m really sorry for not calling.” 

She just shook her head, pulling him down to kiss him. “You idiot, never do that again.”

He laughed again, “I promise. But Nami, what happened to your wrist? Why are they wrapped up like that? Is it a new fashion thingy?”

She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it.”

He pulled further away, taking her hand in his and unwrapping her wrist. The uncovered cuts stung as he ran his fingers a little too hard over them. “Did you do this?”

She looked away before nodding.

“Why?”

She shrugged, but when he pushed on the cut a little to hard she cringed. “I-I was lost. I was scared. You stopped calling, stopping answer my calls, I… I didn’t know what to do, and then everything that’s been going on just became too much.”

“Nami,” he said releasing her and lowering his head. “You could have told me.”

“How? You broke your phone remember?” His whole body tightened.

They stood there for a few minutes in complete silence, she was sure that Zoro and Sanji had both entered and left to give them some privacy in that time. Finally, when she was sure she was going to leave if he didn’t talk, he pulled her towards him, wrapping her once again in a hug.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

After a moment of shook she wrapped her arms around him again, “I’m sorry too. I should have told you.”

They stood there for another few minutes before their roommates finally stepped out. “If you leave the door open any longer the whole house is going to be cold,” Zoro said, the first to step out of the kitchen.

Luffy laughed as always, running up to his friend, leaving Nami to close the door and pull his bags in. “Zoro,” he yelled, pulling his friend into a hug that wasn’t wanted.

“Luffy,” he said as the two stood smiling at each out for what would seem to long if it was anyone other than those two.

“Welcome back,” Sanji said, “I made breakfast.” And if you didn’t know Luffy you would think Sanji just stated the meaning of life as Luffy began crying, mumbling something about how much he missed Sanji’s cooking.

For the first time in a long time all four of them sat down for a meal. Zoro and Sanji fought, Luffy laughed as he stuffed his face, and Nami watched happy that they were all back together again.

When they were all done Luffy offered to do the dishes, but seeing as how whenever him or Zoro did dishes they always broke dishes Sanji said he would do them. Zoro opted to go for another run. And that left Luffy and Nami to sit and watch cartoons together.

“I haven’t watched cartoons in soo long,” Luffy sighed, fidgeting as always. “Grandpa said that it wasn’t a good habit to have as a marine.”

“Watching cartoons?” She asked.

“Watching tv.” He gave her a scared look, “All we did was be chased around by him. He really tried to get the three of us killed.”

She laughed.

“Did you and ViVi make up?” He asked out of nowhere.

She shrugged, “I’m not sure.”

“I think you should make up with her.”

She nodded, “I will.”

“I also think you should take to Robin and Franky about everything.”

She shook her head, “I’m not sure about that.”

“I could always take care of things for you.”

“I’ll talk to them monday.” He laughed and she chuckled with him. She found it strange that she could find such happiness in being with just one person, but as she spent more and more time with him she couldn’t help by smile and laugh more. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“Me too.” He said with a giant smile on her face.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before she stood up.

“Where are you going?” He asked as she started towards the stairs.

“To take a bath, unlike you I take a bath more often than once a month,” she said over her shoulder.

“I take a bath more often than that!”

“Yeah, when someone forces you to.” She could hear him yelling about how that wasn’t true, but she ignored it with a smile the whole time.

She sunk into the warm water, letting it surround her. She sunk further and further in, she could feel it almost swallowing her and she about let it.

Part of her wanted it to swallow her, take the last of her pain away. She closed her eyes, the water truly was swallowing her until she heard her name being called. Her eyes snapped open, the darkness faded to light except one shadow looking down at her. She quickly sat up, coming face to face with none other than Luffy.

“Luffy!” She yelled. “What are you doing in here?”

“I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Get out,” she yelled. 

“Why? I’ve seen you naked before.”

She sighed, “That’s not the point, for once let me bathe in peace.”

He got up, muttering about how it shouldn’t matter, but left. She was sure he was sitting outside, made even more sure when she heard him start to give more details about his time with his family.

“I can’t wait for you to meet Ace and Sabo, I know their going to love you, well not as much as I love you, but I’m sure you’ll all get along really well.”

She listened to him as she bathed, and as she got out. She stood in front of the mirror as she dried off. She could still hear him.

“I told them I had a girlfriend and they didn’t believe me, so I showed them the picture of all of us together and pointed you out, but they said you were too pretty to be with me,” she wanted to laugh as he kept going. “But I told them you really were my girlfriend and they still didn’t believe me, so you’re going to have to meet them soon and tell them that you really are my girlfriend.”

She pulled her clothes on and swung the door open. He really was sitting right next to the door, stopping his story only when she looked down at him. He smiled up at her and she leaned down, kissing him with as much feeling as she could put into it.

“I love you,” she said when she pulled away.

He chuckled, “I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's it, the end. A story that originally started as a one shot that turned into nearly two years of work. Thank you to all who took the time to read this. It truly was a pleasure.


End file.
